THE 



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA, 






FROM ITS 



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€iiT\M Miimmi tn i^i |5rBBBiit €imB» 



BY 



T. S. ARTHUR 



W. H. CARPENTER. 




PHILADELPHIA : 

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 

185 2. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 

T. S. ARTHUR and W. H. CARPENTER, 

in the Clerk's OflSice of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



.At^ 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 

PHILADELPHIA. 
PRINTED BY T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS. 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



There are but few persons in this country who 
have not, at some time or other, felt the want of an 
accurate, well written, concise, yet clear and reliable 
history of their own or some other state. 

The want here indicated is now about being sup- 
plied; and, as the task of doing so is no light or 
superficial one, the publishers have given into the 
hands of the two gentlemen whose names appear in 
the title-page, the work of preparing a series of Cabi- 
net Histories, embracing a volume for each state in 
the Union. Of their ability to perform this well, we 
need not speak. They are no strangers in the literary 
world. What they undertake the public may rest 
assured will be performed thoroughly, and that no 
sectarian, sectional, or party feelings will bias their 
judgment, or lead them to violate the integrity of 
history. 

The importance of a series of state histories like 
those now commenced, can scarcely be estimated. 
Being condensed as carefully as accuracy and interest 
of narrative will permit, the size and price of the 
volumes will bring them within the reach of every 
family in the country, thus making them home-read- 
ing books for old and young. Each individual will, 

1* 6 



6 publishers' preface. 



in consequence, become familiar, not only with the 
history of his own state, but with that of other states : 
— thus mutual interest will be re-awakened, and old 
bonds cemented in a firmer union. 

In this series of Cabinet Histories, the authors, 
while presenting a concise but accurate narrative of 
the domestic policy of each state, will give greater 
prominence to the personal history of the people. 
The dangers which continually hovered around the 
early colonists ; the stirring romance of a life passed 
fearlessly amid peril; the incidents of border war- 
fare; the adventures of hardy pioneers; the keen 
watchfulness, the subtle surprise, the ruthless attack, 
and prompt retaliation — all these having had an im- 
portant infl.uence upon the formation of the American 
character, are to be freely recorded ; while the progres- 
sive development of the citizens of each individual state 
from the rough forest-life of the earlier day to the 
polished condition of the present, will exhibit a pic- 
ture of national expansion as instructing as it is inte- 
resting. 

The size and style of the series will be uniform 
with the present volume. The authors, who have 
been for some time collecting and arranging materials, 
will furnish the succeeding volumes as rapidly as their 
careful preparation will warrant. 



PEEFACB. 



As the first Anglo-Saxon colony in America, 
Virginia has always occupied an important his- 
torical position. But while detached portions 
of her early annals, full of romantic interest, 
have become familiar to all classes of persons, 
the connected narrative of the dangers and pri- 
vations which attended her early settlement, 
and subsequent progress, has remained, for the 
most part, imperfectly known to the general 
reader. 

To give this history in a compact form, neither 

coloured by prejudice nor distorted by party 

feeling, the present volume has been written. 

The materials for the work have been drawn 

7 



8 PREFACE. 



from the most reliable sources, and it has been 
rendered as accurate as possible, bj patient in- 
vestigation and by a careful comparison of con- 
flicting authorities. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Early English explorers — John and Sebastian Cabot discover 
North America — Voyage of Sebastian Cabot — Voyage of 
Frobisher — Coligny founds a colony of Huguenots in Florida 
— The colonists massacred by the Spaniards — Retaliation of 
De Gourguis — First project of an English colony — Sir Wal- 
ter Raleigh — Studies the art of war under Coligny — Returns 
to England — In favour with Queen Elizabeth — Obtains a 
patent to colonize America — Voyage of Sir Humphrey Gil- 
bert — His shipwreck and loss at sea — Voyage of Amidas 
and Barlow — Description of the island of Wokokon in 
Florida — Kindness of the natives — Colony founded at Roa- 
noke — Deserted — Voyage of Sir Richard GrenviUe — Second 
settlement of Roanoke — Mysterious disappearance of the 
colonists — Death of Raleigh — Voyage of Newport — Charac- 
ter of the immigrants — Captain John Smith — His romantic 
adventures in the old world Pwje 19 

CHAPTER n. 

Jamestown — Description of site selected for settlement — Ga- 
thering of the colonists — Charges preferred against Captain 
John Smith — His innocence substantiated — Wingfield fined 
— Exploration of James River — Village of Powhattan — 
Description of an Indian village — Its place of games — Its 
sacred lire — Sepulchre of the chiefs — Their idol Kiwasa — 
Construction of their wigwams — Internal arrangement — 
Regal state of Powhattan — His wives — Obedience of his 
subjects — His places of residence — Orapakes — Description 
of Powhattan's dwelling — Character of Powhattan 35 



CHAPTER III. 

Description of the colonists — Gentlemen idlers — Noticeable 
men — Mr. Hunt — Mr. George Percy — Captain Bartholomew 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 



Gosnold— His death — Portrait of Captain John Smith — Care- 
less security of the colonists — Attacked by the Indians — 
Fort built and palisadoed — Newport leaves for England — 
Famine and sickness in the colony — Selfishness of Wingfield 
— Attempts to escape from the colony — Deposed — Suffer- 
ings of the settlers — Their providential deliverance — Energy 
of Smith — Explores the country for provisions — Conspiracy 
of Wingfield and Kendall — Death of Kendall — Abundance 
in the colony Page 46 



CHAPTER IV. 

Smith's superior abilities create envy — He explores the Chicka- 
hominy River to its source — Three of his men slain by the 
Indians — Smith taken prisoner — Led in procession to Ora- 
pakes — Gratitude of a savage — Smith carried in triumph 
through various tribes — Reaches Pamunkey — Singular con- 
jurations of the medicine-men — Is taken to Werowocomoco 
— Regal state of Powhattan — Smith sentenced to death — 
Rescued by Pocahontas — His release — Returns to James- 
town — Represses the malcontents — They plot his death — 
His summary proceedings 55 



CHAPTER V. 

Arrival of the second supply — Newport opens a trade with 
Powhattan — Is outwitted by the emperor — Sagacity of 
Smith — Value of blue beads — Mania for gold-seeking in 
Virginia — Arrival of the Phoenix — Smith explores the 
Chesapeake — Returns to Jamestown — Sails, and completes 
his discoveries — Character of Smith — Elected governor of 
Virginia — Arrival of the third supply — Coronation of Pow- 
hattan — His regal intractability — Affairs at Jamestown — 
Energetic conduct of Smith — Powhattan attempts to starve 
out the colony — Expedition of Smith to Werowocomoco 66 



CHAPTER VI. 

Smith sets out for Werowocomoco — Is visited by Powhattan \ 
— Smith's speech — Reply of Powhattan — Difficulties in the ) 
way of bartering for corn — Subtle conduct of the emperor \ 
— Smith and his companions surrounded by armed Indians ' 
— Rout of the latter — Supplies of corn obtained — Powhat- ; 
tan's treachery — Visit of Pocahontas — The project frus- 1 
trated — Smith sails for Pamunkey — Is entertained by Ope- ' 
chancanough — Demands a supply of corn — Fearful situa- 
tion of the whites — Smith takes Opechancanough prisoner j 



CONTENTS. 11 



— Surrender of his warriors — Their sudden friendship — The 
barges freighted with corn — Return to Jamestown Page 78 

CHAPTER VII. 

Return of Smith to Jamestown — Loss of Scrivener, Gosnoll, 
and others — Government of Smith — Activity of the colo- 
nists — Growing scarcity of food — Many settlers quartered 
around Jamestown — Insubordination — Firmness of Smith 
— Arrival of Captain Argall — The commissioners in Eng- 
land surrender their charter — A new commission granted 
— Lord Delaware appointed Governor-general of Virginia 
— Nine vessels sail from England for the colony — Parted 
in a storm — Uncertain fate of the flag ship — The others of 
the fleet arrive in Virginia — DiflBculties with Smith — His 
resolute conduct — Opens several new plantations — Powhat- 
tan settled — Terrible accident to Smith — His return to 
England — Statistics of the colony — Its prosperous condi- 
tion 89 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Captain George Percy — His reasons for remaining in the colony 
— His ill-health — Factious spirit of the people — Indian hos- 
tilities — Massacre of Ratclifife and his men — West and thirty 
others turn pirates — Miserable condition of the colonists — 
Arrival of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers — 
The colony deserted — Arrival of Lord Delaware — His judi- 
cious measures — The colony begins to flourish — Delaware 
returns to England — Disappointment of the London Com- 
pany — Sir Thomas Dale sent to Virginia — His arrival — Pro- 
claims martial law — Sir Thomas Gates arrives at James- 
town — Assumes the government of the colony — A planta- 
tion opened at Henrico — Private property recognized in the 
colony — Beneficial results arising therefrom — New Bermu- 
das settled — The third charter of the London Company — 
Change in the constitution — Money allowed to be raised by 
lottery for the benefit of the colony 100 



CHAPTER IX. 

Administration of Sir Thomas Gates — Cautious forbearance 
of Powhattan — Treachery of Japazaws — Capture of Poca- 
hontas — She is taken to Jamestown — A ransom demanded 
for her release — Powhattan sends back men and muskets — 
Sir Thomas Dale sent to enforce the remainder of the ran- 



12 CONTENTS. 



som — Reaches Werowocomoco — Is assaulted — Defeats the 
savages and burns the town — Parleys with the Indians — 
Returns to Jamestown — John Rolfe instructs Pocahontas 
in the Christian faith — She is baptized — Marriage of Poca- 
hontas to Rolfe — Satisfaction of Powhattan — Its beneficial 
consequences — Dale treats with Powhattan for another 
daughter — His refusal — Rolfe and his wife sail for Eng- 
land — Pocahontas honourably received — Her deaih at 
Gravesend Page 110 

CHAPTER X. 

Evils arising from the system of common labour — Right of 
private property — Conditions of tenure — Indentured serv- 
ants — Bounty land — Dale embarks for England — Appoint- 
ment of Yeardley — Cultivation of tobacco — Careless security 
of the colonists — The savages taught the use of fire-arms — 
Argall supersedes Yeardley — His character and arbitrary 
conduct — His removal from office — Yeardley reappointed — 
Second administration of Yeardley — The first general as- 
sembly convened at Jamestown — How composed — Energy 
of Sandys — Large numbers of immigrants sent to Virginia 
— Importation of females — Beneficial effect upon the colo- 
nists — Rapid increase of immigrants — Introduction of negro 
slavery — Resignation of Sandys — His successor nominated 
by King James — Spirited conduct of the London Company 
— Earl of Southampton elected treasurer — The first consti- 
tution of Virginia 121 



CHAPTER XL 

Sir Francis "Wyatt appointed governor — Arrives in Virginia 
— Scattered condition of the colonists — Their careless state 
of security — Death of Powhattan — Opechancanough sus- 
pected of treachery — His answer — Arranges a plan for the 
general massacre of the colonists — Nemattanow, or Jack of 
the Feather, murders one Morgan and robs him — Is shot 
down by two boys — His dying requests — Terrible massacre 
of the 2"2d of March — Most of the plantations abandoned — 
Sickness in the colony — War of extermination — Reception 
of the tidings in England — Assistance sent to the colonists 
— Smith tenders his services — Conduct of King James — At- 
tempts to dictate to the company — Meets with a second re- 
buke — Resolves to annul the charter — Appoints commission- 
ers to inquire into the affairs of the company — Resolves to 
reassume his conceded authority — His proposition rejected 
by the company — Commissioners sent to Virginia 133 



CONTENTS. IS 



CHAPTER XII. 

Arrival of commissioners in Virginia — Feeling of the colonists 
— Proceedings of the commissioners — Pory suborns the clerk 
of the council — Punishment of the latter — The presence of 
the commissioners disregarded — Acts passed by the assem- 
bly — Taxation asserted to be dependent on representation — 
Regulations adopted to guard against surprise by the In- 
dians — Charter of the London Company cancelled — Death 
of James I. — Great influx of immigrants — No towns in Vir- 
ginia — Yeardley appointed governor — Lord Baltimore ar- 
rives in Virginia — Religious intolerance of the colonists — 
Baltimore returns to England — Obtains a patent for the 
province of Maryland — Yeardley succeeded by Sir John 
Harvey — Variance of opinions concerning the latter — He is 
deposed and sent to England — Is returned — Second Vir- 
ginia massacre — Opechancanough taken prisoner — His 
death Page 146 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Berkeley sails for England — Treaty of peace with the Indians 
— Prosperity of Virginia — Her loyalty — Hospitality extend- 
ed to fugitive Cavaliers — Charles II. proclaimed — Action 
of the English Parliament — Virginia acknowledges the 
commonwealth — Berkeley resigns — Richard Bennett elected 
governor — Indian incursion — Edward Diggs elected gover- 
nor — Samuel Matthews chosen governor — His controversy 
with the burgesses — Declares the dissolution of the assem- 
bly — The assembly deposes the governor and councU — Re- 
elects Matthews — His submission — Richard Cromwell — 
Acknowledged protector of England — The Virginia assem- 
bly defines its privileges — Restoration of Charles 11. — 
Berkeley sails for England — The laws of Virginia revised... 157 

CHAPTER XrV. 

Jamestown in 1662 — Increase of nonconformists — Persecution 
of — Their migration from Virginia — Projected massacre — 
Its opportune discovery — The prosperity of the province 
checked by injurious English laws — Futile attempts of the 
assembly to remedy the evil — An exploring party cross the 
Blue Ridge — Growing difficulties — Change in the political 
condition of the Virginians — Statistics of the province in 
1671— Oppressed situation of the poorer planters — Magnifi- 
cent vagaries of Charles II. — Agents sent to England — 
Popular disturbances — Descent of the Seneca Indians upon 

2 



14 CONTENTS. 



the Susquehannas — Outrages committed on the frontiers by 
the latter — Six chiefs treacherously murdered — Sanguinary 
retaliation — Arming of the Virginians — Berkeley repro- 
bates war — Nathaniel Bacon — His condition and character 
— Marches against the Indians Pvuge 167 



CHAPTER XV. 

Departure of Bacon — Berkeley commands him to return and 
disperse his followers — Bacon attacks an Indian fort and 
cari'ies it by storm — Is pursued by Berkeley — Disturbances 
in the lower counties — Dissolution of the old assembly — A 
new assembly called — Bacon elected a burgess — Is arrested 
by order of the governor — Temporary reconciliation — Bacon 
appointed commander-in-chief — Jealously of Berkeley — Re- 
fuses Bacon a commission — Five hundred men march into 
Jamestown — Berkeley submits — Retires to Gloucester 
county — Proclaims Bacon a rebel — Bacon issues writs for a 
convention of the people — Berkeley retreats to Accomac — 
Raises an army and sails for Jamestown — Bacon marches 
against him — The governor deserted by his troops — Trium- 
phant progress of Bacon — His death — Violent proceedings 
of Berkeley — Thomas Hansford and others hanged — Death 
of Berkeley 179 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Jeffreys appointed governor — An attempt made to regulate 
the Indian traffic — Political restrictions again enforced — 
Chicheley deputy-governor — Arrival of Lord Culpepper — 
Appointed governor for life — His avaricious dispositon — De- 
frauds the troops — Returns to England — Administration of 
Chicheley — Impoverished condition of the province — Dis- 
<"ontent of the people — Return of Culpepper to Virginia — 
Compromises with the planters of the northern neck — Em- 
barks for England — Lord Howard appointed governor — 
His meanness and avarice — Transportation of prisoners for 
political offences — Their reception in Virginia — Adminis- 
tration of Nicholson — Project for a college — A charter ob- 
tained — Andros appointed governor — His neatness and 
method — Is succeeded by Nicholson 191 

CHAPTER XVIL 

Administration of Nicholson — Williamsburg founded — Dis- 
senters tolerated by statute — Enormous power of the gover- 



CONTENTS. 15 



nor — Modes of its restriction — Bold project of De Callier, 
Governor of Montreal — How defeated — English scheme of 
general defence for the colonies — Virginia refuses her quota 
— Nicholson's letter in consequence — Loses his popularity 
— Political discontent — Nicholson removed — The ofiSce of 
Governor of Virginia granted as a sinecure to the Earl of 
Orkney — Edward Nott appointed deputy-governor — Re- 
vised code of Virginia — Prominent provisions — Jennings 
president of the council — Succeeds Nott — Colonel Spots- 
wood appointed deputy-governor — Crosses the Blue Ridge 
— Is knighted — Is succeeded by Hugh Drysdale — Death of 
Drysdale — Accession of Brigadier-general Gooch P(^g 201 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Eastern provinces — War of 1689 — French territorial 
claims — Movements of Count Frontenac — Cocheco burned 
by Castin — Pemaquid taken by the Penobscot Indians 
— Burning of Schenectady — Massacre at Salmon Falls — 
Capture of the Casco Bay settlement — First American Con- 
gress — Unsuccessful attempt upon Quebec — Acadie invaded 
by Sir William Phipps — Expedition of Church — Villebon 
recaptures Port Royal — York destroyed by the French — 
Wells successfully defended — Virginia votes five hundred 
pounds toward the defence of New York — Frontenac rava- 
ges the territory of the Five Nations — Success of D'lbber- 
viUe — Church ravages the French settlements — Burning of 
HaverhiU and Andover — Peace of Ryswick — Plan of co-ope- 
ration for the colonies — French construct a line of posts 
from Canada to Louisiana — Alarm of the English — Re- 
newal of the war — French and Indian excesses — Surprise 
of Deerfield — Expedition against Acadie — Haverhill burned 
— Port Royal taken — Inglorious expedition of Sir Hoveden 
Walker 210 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Treaty of Utrecht — Population of the colonies — Absence of 
towns in Virginia — Crown Point taken possession of by the 
French — Communication between Canada and Louisiana — 
First newspaper in Virginia — War with Spain — Disastrous 
expedition to Carthagena — War with France — Capture of 
Louisburg— Treaty of Aix la Chapelle — Progress of Vir- 
ginia — Religious intolerance — Capitol at Williamsburg 
burned — Close of Gooch's administration — Evidences of 
affectionate regard — Character of Gooch — Ohio Company — 
French claims — Opposite claims of the British — Brownsville 
founded — French posts established in the vicinity of the 



16 CONTENTS. 



Ohio— Orders from England — Dinwiddie appointed Gover- 
nor of Virginia — His purchase of the Indians — Back set- 
tlements of Virginia threatened by the French — A messen- 
ger despatched by Dinwiddie to ascertain their intentions — 
Virginia instructed to build two forts on the Ohio — George 
Washington — His early life and character. Pwje 223 

CHAPTER XX. 

Mission of Washington to the Ohio — Reaches Will's Creek — 
Halts at the forks of the Ohio — Holds a conference with In- 
dians at Logstown — Delivers his letters and credentials to 
the French commandant — His return — Is shot at by an 
Indian — His peril in crossing the Alleghany River — Ar- 
rives at Williamsburg — Increase of the provincial army — 
Washington appointed lieutenant-colonel — Marches to Will's 
Creek — The French drive off the troops at the forks of the 
Ohio, and build Fort Duquesne — Skirmish at Great Mea- 
dows — Death of Jumonville, and capture of his party — 
Fort Necessity erected — Invested by the French — The Vir- 
ginians capitulate on terms — Washington resigns his com- 
mission and retires to private life — Arrival of General Brad- 
dock with troops from England — Is joined by Washington 
as a volunteer — March of the army — Crossing of the Alle- 
ghanies — Defeat of Braddock on the banks of the Monon- 
gahela — Death of Braddock — Heroism of the Virginia 
troops — Retreat of the army to Cumberland 237 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Indian incursions — Activity of Washington — Dinwiddie con- 
venes the assembly — Increase of troops — Washington ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief — Hastens to Winchester — Dis- 
tressed condition of the settlers — His letter to the governor 
— His painful situation — Fort Loudoun commenced — Eng- 
land declares war against France — Arrival of the Earl of 
Loudoun — Success of the French under Montcalm — Confer- 
ence at Philadelphia — Plan of the campaign — Failure of the 
expedition against Louisburg — Campaign of 1758 — Ener- 
getic measures of Pitt — Expedition ordered against Fort 
Duquesne — Advance of Colonel Bouquet — The Virginia 
troops concentrated at Fort Cumberland — A new road open- 
ed to Loyal Hanna — A detachment under Major Grant 
ordered to reconnoitre Fort Duquesne — Defeat of Grant — 
Arrival of General Forbes at Loyal Hanna — Council of 
war — Advance of the troops — The fort burned and deserted 
by the French — Fort Pitt erected on its site — Campaign of 
175i>— Treaty of Fontainbleau 252 



CONTENTS. 3 7 



CHAPTER XXII. 

English financial embarrassment — Proposition to tax the colo- 
nies — Passage of the stamp act — Its reception in America 
— Patrick Henry — His birth and education — Studies law — 
His first speech in the " parsons' cause" — Its effect upon his 
auditors — Elected a member of the assembly — OS'ers his 
celebrated resolutions — The effect of their adoption — Con- 
gress at Philadelphia — Solemn declaration of rights — Re- 
peal of the stamp act — Townshend's new bill — Passed by 
the Imperial Parliament — Resistance of the Americans — 
Death of Fauquier — Session of 1768 — Resolutions of the 
assembly — Dissolved by the arrival of Lord Bottetourt as 
governor-in-ehief — Session of 1769 — Dissolution of the as- 
sembly — Non-importation agreement — Progress of resist- 
ance — Repeal of all duties except that on tea — Agitation still 
continues — Death of Lord Bottetourt — His character — The 
assembly order a statue to be erected to his memory... Po^c 267 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

Dunmore appointed governor — Arrival of Foy — Meeting of 
the assembly — Rebuke of Dunmore — His tart reply — Com- 
mittee of correspondence organized — A continental Congress 
suggested — Journey of Dunmore to the Ohio — Appoints 
Conolly Indian agent — His designs unfolded — Troubles 
with Pennsylvania — Action of the Virginia council — Car- 
goes of tea sent to the colonies — Proceedings in conse- 
quence — Destruction of tea at Boston — Its port closed — 
Action of Vii'ginia — The continental Congress — Indian war 
on the frontier — An army raised — March of Dunmore — 
Colonel Lewis encamps at Point Pleasant — Battle of Point 
Pleasant — Suspicious conduct of Dunmore — Negotiations 
for peace — Speech of Logan — Approaching crisis — Battle 
of Lexington — Dunmore conveys the powder from the maga- 
zine at Williamsburg — Henry marches upon the capital — 
An assembly convened — Flight of Dunmore 280 

CHAPTER XXrV. 

Adjournment of the Virginia Assembly — Continental Congress 
— Washington appointed commander-in-chief — Battle of 
Bunker's Hill — Movements of Dunmore — Battle at Great 
Bridge — Norfolk evacuated — Bombarded and burned — 
Meeting of the assembly — New constitution adopted — De- 
claration of Independence — Retreat of Dunmore — War at 
the north — Disastrous expedition against Quebec — Retreat 
of Washington across the Jerseys — Battle of Trenton and 

2* 



18 CONTENTS. 



Princeton — Campaign of 1777 — March of Burgoyne from 
Canada — Capture of Ticonderoga — Surrender of Burgoyne 
— Movements of Howe — Battles of Brandywine and Ger- 
mantown — Washington retires to Valley Forge — Treaty of 
alliance with France — Howe evacuates Philadelphia — Clin- 
ton retreats across the Jerseys — Battle of Monmouth — Ar- 
rival of a French fleet off the capes — An attack upon New- 
port projected — Its failure — Invasion of the southern states 
— Virginia plundered by General Matthews Page 293 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Clinton embarks for the south — Capture of Charleston — Gates 
appointed to command the southern continental army — His 
defeat at Camden — Leslie sent to Virginia — Greene super- 
sedes Gates — Arnold in Virginia — La Fayette ordered to 
reinforce Steuben — General Phillips forms a junction with 
Arnold — Destruction of stores at Yorktown — Petersburg 
captured — Advance of Cornwallis — Battle of Cowpens — Re- 
treat of Greene — Marches against Rawdon — Cornwallis 
reaches Petersburg — Expeditions of Simcoe andTarleton — 
March of Cornwallis to Portsmouth — Skirmish near James- 
town — The British army concentrated at York and Glouces- 
ter — Movements of the allied forces under Washington and 
Rochambeau — Arrival of the French fleet in the Chesapeake 
— Yorktown invested — Incidents of the siege — Capitulation 
of Cornwallis — Negotiations for peace 304 

CHAPTER XXVL 

Close of the war — Exhausted condition of the country — Ces- 
sion of the public lands — Convention at Philadelphia — 
Adoption of the Federal Constitution — Opposition in Vir- 
ginia — Origin of the Federalists and Republicans — Fears 
respecting the constitution — Repudiation of British claims 
— Opinion of Washington — Increasing prosperity of the 
Union — Difficulties with France — Alien and sedition laws 
— Madison's resolutions — Slavery — Fears of Virginia — 
Acts passed in relation to — Difficulties with England — Eng- 
lish and French decrees — Commercial distress — Declaration 
of war — Patriotism of Virginia — Peace proclaimed — Revi- 
sions of the constitution— Servile insurrection — War with 
Mexico — Past condition of Virginia — Present prospects — 
System of internal improvement — Relation of Virginia to 
the states 318 



HISTORY OF YIRGIIIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



Early English explorers — John and Sebastian Cabot discover 
North America — Voyage of Sebastian Cabot — Voyage of 
Frobisher — Coligny founds a colony of Huguenots in Florida 
' — The colonists massacred by the Spaniards — Retaliation of 
De Gourguis — First project of an English colony — Sir Walter 
Raleigh — Studies the art of war under Coligny — Returns to 
England — In favour with Queen Elizabeth — Obtains a patent 
to colonize America — Voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert — His 
shipwreck and loss at sea — Voyage of Amidas and Barlow — 
Description of the island of Wokokon in Florida — Kindness 
of the natives — Colony founded at Roanoke — Deserted — 
Voyage of Sir Richard Grenville — Second settlement of Roa- 
noke — Mysterious disappearance of the colonists — Death of 
Raleigh — Voyage of Newport — Character of the immigrants 
— Captain John Smith — His romantic adventures in the old 
world. 

No sooner was the great problem solved by 
Christopher Columbus, of immense and hitherto 
unknown regions beyond the Atlantic, than ad- 
venturers from the various maritime nations of 
Europe sought to profit by the discovery. 

Among these, England, though not foremost 
in her explorations, was destined eventually to 
become the most distinguished. 

On the 5th of March, 1496, John Cabot, a 

19 



20 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1498. 

Yenetian merchant, residing at Bristol in Eng- 
land, obtained from Henry YII. a patent, em- 
powering him and his three sons to make dis- 
coveries in the eastern, western, and northern 
seas, and to take possession of all the countries 
thus newly found, in the name of the King of Eng- 
land, and under the protection of his banner. 
Under this commission, John and Sebastian 
Cabot embarked for the west, and on the 24th 
of June, 1497, discovered the continent of North 
America, in latitude bQ° north. This was some 
time before Columbus in his third voyage came 
in sight of the continent, and two years before 
Americus Vespucci sailed west of the Cana- 
ries. 

It was from this expedition, by the Cabots, 
that England acquired the title to North America, 
which she afterward so successfully asserted. 

In 1498, Sebastian Cabot ranged the same 
coast, from latitude 58° north to about 40° south, 
when finding himself growing short of provisions 
he returned to England. 

Further maritime discoveries languished until 
1576, when Martin Frobisher, under the pa- 
tronage of the Earl of Warwick, fitted out a 
squadron for the purpose of attempting the dis- 
covery of a northwest passage to India. As he 
passed down the Thames, on the 8th of June, 
1576, Queen Elizabeth waved her hand toward 
him in token of favour, and the admiral standing 



1550.] HUGUENOT SETTLEMENTS. 21 

on the deck of his flag-ship, responded to the 
courteous recognition of his sovereign. 

The fleet of Frobisher consisted of three ves- 
sels, one of which was soon lost in a storm. The 
commander of the second ship, becoming alarmed, 
put back for England, leaving the gallant admi- 
ral to pursue his voyage alone. 

After enduring the most terrible hardships, 
Frobisher reached the coast of Labrador, entered 
the bay now known by his name, took possession 
of the country in the name of his sovereign, and 
gathering some stones and rubbish from the 
shore, which were supposed to be impregnated 
with gold, returned in safety to England. 

Sixteen years previous to this exploit of Fro- 
bisher's. Admiral Coligny, chief of the Huguenot 
party in France, made two several attempts to 
found a colony far to the southward, on a portion 
of that vast region which was then known to 
Spanish adventurers as Florida. The first at- 
tempt ended disastrously, through dissensions 
among the colonists themselves. The fate of the 
second colony was more awful still. Spain main- 
tained her right to Florida, and despatched one 
Pedro Melendez, a man of brutal ferocity and in- 
famous character, with a large military and naval 
force, to break up the Huguenot settlement, and 
hold possession of the country. 

No sooner had Melendez reached the coast of 
Florida, than, sailing north, he discovered the 



22 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1564. 



French fleet lying at anchor, and in answer to a 
demand made by the French commander of his 
name and objects, he replied : 

" I am Melendez of Spain, sent hither with 
strict orders from the king, to gibbet and behead 
all Protestants in these regions. The Frenchman 
w^ho is a Catholic I will spare ; — every heretic 
shall die." 

The French, unprepared for action, cut their 
cables and fled. Melendez then returned to the 
harbour of St. Augustine, and after taking pos- 
session of the whole continent in the name of 
Philip II., marched overland against the Hugue- 
not colony on the St. John's. 

Fearing no danger, the unfortunate colonists 
were surprised and massacred in cold blood ; 
men, women, and children, about two hundred 
in all ! Of those who escaped into the woods, a 
part surrendered to the Spaniards, and were im- 
mediately murdered. Others succeeded in taking 
refuge on board a French vessel remaining in 
the harbour. Others again, who had escaped 
shipwreck on the coast, were soon discovered. 
Wasted by fatigues at sea, and half famished for 
want of food, they were invited by Melendez to 
rely on his mercy. They accordingly surren- 
dered ; and as they stepped on shore, their hands 
were tied before them, and they were thus driven 
to St. Augustine like sheep to a slaughter-house. 

As they approached the fort, a signal was 



1564.] THE HUGUENOTS AVENGED. 23 

given, the trumpet was sounded, and the Spaniards 
fell upon them. With the exception of a few 
Catholics, all were massacred ; " not as French- 
men, but as Lutherans." 

About nine hundred, including those previously 
slain, were thus sacrificed on the altar of religious 
zeal. 

The French government, itself perhaps even 
then meditating the terrible massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew, heard of the outrage and listened to 
its horrid details with the most heartless indif- 
ference. Not even a protest was made. Re- 
taliatory vengeance, however, fell upon the blood- 
thirsty Spaniards from a quarter whence it was 
perhaps the least expected. 

Dominic de Gourguis, a native of Gascony, 
and a bold soldier, burning to avenge the blood 
of his slaughtered relatives, and soothe the cries 
of his persecuted brethren, fitted out three ships, 
manned by one hundred and fifty gallant men, 
and embarked for Florida. A favourable breeze 
soon wafted him thither ; he landed immediately, 
and surprised two Spanish forts near the mouth 
of the St. John's. As terror magnified his num- 
bers, and courage and revenge nerved his arm, 
he was enabled to get possession of the principal 
fort, near the spot where his relatives and friends 
had been previously massacred. Too weak to 
maintain his position, he weighed anchor imme- 
diately for Europe, having first hanged all his 



24 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1565. 

prisoners upon the trees, and placed over them 
this inscriptioiJ : 

« I do not this as unto Spaniards, but as unto 
traitors, robbers, and murderers." 

It was to this region, so fearfully drenched 
"with European blood, that the attention of an 
English gentleman was subsequently attracted as 
a fitting place of settlement for the first English 
colony. 

About the time that the daring exploit of De 
Gourguis was creating a sensation in Europe, a 
young English gentleman left the university of 
Oxford, and passing over into France, prosecuted 
his studies in the art of war under the veteran 
Coligny. Being made familiar with the story of 
Spanish cruelty from the lips of those whose re- 
latives had been thus wantonly murdered, and 
excited to a thirst for similar adventure by their 
glowing descriptions of the wonderful natural 
beauty of the land which had been thus savagely 
desecrated, Sir Walter Raleigh returned at 
length to England, filled with great projects by 
which he might win renown to himself and glory 
to his country. His flattering and chivalrous 
gallantry in spreading his rich cloak before the 
feet of his sovereign, so that she might pass a 
muddy space unsoiled, his handsome person, and 
the varied charms of his conversation, very soon 
commended him to the favourable regard of the 
vainest but ablest of English queens. Any pro* 



1583.] RALEIGH EQUIPS A FLEET. 25 

ject which would check the spread of Spanish 
colonies over a continent she claimed by right 
of Cabot's discovery, could not be otherwise than 
pleasing to her, who at Tilbury Fort subsequently 
dared the landing of the formidable Armada, and 
cheered the spirits of her soldiers by proclaiming 
that, " though she had the form of a woman, she 
had the heart of a king, ay, and of a king of 
England too." 

Under her auspices, accordingly, in 1583, Sir 
Walter Raleigh equipped a fleet at his own ex- 
pense. The command he gave to his step-brother, 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who, on his departure, 
received from Elizabeth a golden anchor, guided 
by a lady, as a token of her regard. Gilbert first 
sailed for Newfoundland. Entering the harbour 
of St. John, he took possession of the country, 
in the name of his sovereign, with all the formali- 
ties then customary on such occasions. After 
freighting his largest ship, in secret, with the 
same kind of mineral which had attracted Fro- 
bisher at an earlier day, Gilbert sailed in a 
southern direction along the coast on a voyage 
of exploration. His largest ship was wrecked 
by the carelessness of its crew, and nearly a 
hundred men, with all the mineral, was lost. Sir 
Humphrey himself had embarked on board the 
Squirrel, a pinnace of ten tons, in order to ap- 
proach nearer to the coast, ascertain its bearings, 
and explore its harbours ; and, being unwilling 



26 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1584. 

to forsake the little company with whom he had 
encountered so many storms, he attempted, in 
this frail bark, scarcely superior to the long-boat 
of a merchantman, to cross the vast Atlantic. 

The sea was rough, the winds high, and the 
oldest mariners had rarely witnessed the like. 
The little bark bore up manfully for a while, but 
was too small to dare the ocean at that season 
of the year ; and, when last seen. Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert was sitting abaft, with a book in his hand, 
crying out to those in another vessel that followed 
in his wake, " We are as near to heaven by sea 
as by land." The same night, a little before 
twelve o'clock, the lights of the Squirrel sud- 
denly disappeared, and neither vessel nor crew 
were heard of more. 

Raleigh, having determined to secure, at all 
events, those delightful regions to England, from 
which the French Protestants had been expelled, 
was neither disheartened by the fate of his step- 
brother, nor appalled by the magnitude of the 
undertaking. He immediately set on foot ano- 
ther expedition, and associating with him Sir 
Richard Grenville, and sundry other gentlemen 
and merchants, equipped two ships, which were 
placed under the command of Captain Philip 
Amidas and Captain Barlow, who sailed from the 
Thames on the 27th day of April, 1584, taking 
the southerly route by the Canaries and the West 
Indies. 



1584.] WOKOKON ISLAND. 27 

On the 2d of July they fell in with the coast 
of Florida in shoal water, where they were greeted 
with a " most delicate sweet smell, though they 
saw no land," which before long they spied, and 
coasted along it for a hundred and twenty miles 
without finding any harbour. 

The first that appeared they entered with much 
difficulty, and anchored. Then returning thanks 
to God, they landed, and took possession in the 
queen's name. 

They found their landing-place sandy and low, 
but so full of grapes that the very surge of the sea 
sometimes overflowed them ; of which they found 
such plenty in all places, both in the sand, the 
green soil, and the hills, as in the plains ; as well 
on every little shrub, as also climbing toward the 
top of high cedars, that they thought there was 
not in the world a like abundance. The place 
where they landed proved to be an island called 
Wokokon. 

For three days after their arrival, they saw 
none of the inhabitants. On the third day three 
of them appeared in a little boat, one of whom, 
suffering himself to be taken without resistance, 
came boldly on board the vessel, and was dismissed 
with presents, with which he seemed well pleased. 

The next day came many boats, and in one of 
them the king's brother with forty or fifty men. 
His name was Grangranameo : they called their 
king Wingina, and their country Wingandacoa. 



28 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1584. 

Leaving his boats at a short distance from the 
ships, he came with his train to the point, where, 
spreading a mat, he sat down. 

Though the strangers came to him armed, he 
evinced no fear or distrust, stroking his head and 
breast and theirs also with his hand in sign of 
peace and friendship. He then addressed them 
with a long speech, and accepted the presents 
offered to him. He was highly regarded by his 
people, for all stood in silence but four, on whom 
presents were also bestowed, but he took them 
away, and made signs to indicate that every 
thing belonged to him. 

The king himself was absent, in consequence 
of wounds received in a recent battle. 

Grangranameo repeated his visits, came on 
board the ships with confidence, and brought 
with him his wife and children. They were of 
mean stature, but well-favoured and bashful. She 
wore a long coat of dressed deer-skin prettily 
fringed, and about her forehead a band of white 
coral. In her ears were strings of pearls hanging 
down to her middle, of the size of large peas ; the 
rest of the women had pendants of copper, and the 
chiefs, or nobles, five or six in each ear. The 
apparel of Grangranameo was similar to that 
of his wife, only the women wore their hair long 
on both sides, and the men on one. Their hair 
was black, but there were seen children having it 
of a light copper color. 



1587.] ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION. 29 

On one of their visits, Grangranameo took a 
great fancy for a pewter dish, which so pleased 
him that he gave twenty deer-skins for it, and 
hung it about his neck in great pride. For a 
copper kettle he gave fifty deer-skins. For an 
armour he would have given a bag of pearls ; but 
the English affected an indifference to their value, 
in order to ascertain the place from whence they 
were derived. He was just to his promise, always 
came true to his appointed time, and daily sent 
presents of game and fruits. 

From thence a party proceeded in exploring 
the neighbouring coast, and landed at the island 
of Roanoke, where ultimately the location of a 
colony was fixed. 

In 1586, another expedition was undertaken, 
under the command of Grenville, at the expense 
of a company formed for the support of the 
colony, but with the most unfortunate results ; 
and Sir Francis Drake, having sailed along the 
coast of Virginia, was prevailed upon by the colo- 
nists to take them back to England. 

Efforts were renewed in 1587, by Sir Walter 
Raleigh and Sir Richard Grenville, for the re- 
establishment of the colony, and another vessel 
prepared, in which men w^ith their wives and fa- 
milies embarked. The company was now cheered 
for the first time with the presence of women. 
They carried also implements of husbandry, in- 
dications of future industry. 

3* 



80 HISTORY OP VIRGINIA. [1590. 

Having arrived on the coast of North Carolina 
in July, 1587, they repaired immediately to the 
island of Roanoke. Soon after their landing, 
difficulties thickened. A detachment of English, 
seeing a party of Indians sitting fearlessly around 
their fires at night, and supposing they were ene- 
mies, took them by surprise, and before their 
error was detected, a large portion of the number 
were cruelly massacred. The Indians became 
hostile, and the immigrants gloomy and discon- 
tented. They urged the governor, John White, 
to return to England for reinforcements and sup- 
plies. Before his return, his daughter, who had 
been married to Ananias Dare, one of the magis- 
trates of the colony, gave birth to an infant, 
which, being the first child born of English parents 
in North America, was christened "Virginia," 
from the place of its birth. 

By the generosity of Raleigh, White was de- 
spatched with supplies in two vessels. Preferring, 
however, a gainful rather than a safe voyage, he 
departed from his course in pursuit of prizes ; 
fell in with a Spanish man-of-war, and was board- 
ed, and rifled of all he had. 

This delay proved fatal to the colony. Two 
years elapsed before White was enabled to return. 
When he reached Roanoke, he found the island 
deserted ; and with the exception of the word 
CROATAN, carved in large Roman letters upon one 
of the posts of the palisades, there was no indica- 



1606.] FATE OF KALEIGH. 31 

tion of how or in what manner the unfortunate 
colonists had disappeared. Several expeditions 
were subsequently fitted out for their discovery ; 
but the manner of their fate remains a mystery 
to this day. 

The misfortunes which afterward befell the 
brave and gallant Sir Walter Raleigh are well 
known to all students of English history. He 
was the first and noblest of English adventurers. 
His efibrts at colonization, in which he expended 
from his own private fortune forty thousand 
pounds, equal at the present time to nearly a 
million of dollars, were stimulated as much by his 
zeal for the honour of his sovereign as for his 
own personal aggrandizement. The conquest of 
Cadiz and the capture of Fayal would alone 
have established his military fame. Implicated 
in the civil dissensions of his country, while lan- 
guishing in a prison he composed a history of the 
world. Broken-hearted and impoverished, his 
sentence, originally unjust, which had slumbered 
for fifteen years, was revived by the timid and 
pedantic tyrant James I., under whose warrant he 
was finally beheaded before the Tower of London. 

For the space of nearly twenty years succeed- 
ing the disappearance of the colony at Roanoke, 
no further attempt to settle any portion of the 
American continent was made by the English 
people. 

At length the spirit of adventure was again 



32 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1606. 

revived ; the minds of many wealthy and influen- 
tial persons were directed once more to Virginia, 
and two rival companies sought and obtained 
patents from James I., who wrote with his own 
hand many of the regulations by which the set- 
tlements were to be governed. 

Twelve degrees of latitude were set apart on 
the American coast, from Cape Fear to Halifax, 
for the purposes of colonization. The London 
company w^ere to occupy the regions between the 
thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth degrees of lati- 
tude ; that is, from Cape Fear to the southern limit 
of Maryland : the Plymouth company, between 
the forty-first and forty-fifth degrees of latitude. 
The intermediate space was left open to the com- 
petition of both. 

The conditions of the tenure were homage and 
rent. The latter to consist of one-fifth of the 
net produce of gold and silver, and one-fifteenth 
of copper. The superintendence of the whole 
colonial system was confided to a council in Eng- 
land, and the local administration to a council 
residing within its limits. The king reserved to 
himself the exclusive right to appoint the mem- 
bers of the superior council, and an almost equal 
control over the councils to be established in the 
colonies. To the immigrants nothing was given, 
not even the right of self-government. They 
were subjected to the ordinances of a commercial 
corporation, of which they could not be members ; 



1606.] CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 33 

to the dominion of a domestic council, in the ap- 
pointment of which they had no choice ; to the 
control of a superior council in England, which 
had no sympathy with their rights ; and, finally, 
to the arbitrary legislation of the sovereign. 

On the 19th of December, 1606, three ships, 
freighted by the London adventurers, set sail 
from Blackwall, in England. One hundred colo- 
nists accompanied the expedition, the command 
of which was intrusted to Captain Newport, an 
experienced mariner. Of these colonists more 
than one-half were gentlemen by birth and edu- 
cation ; and, of course, from previous habits, the 
least fitted for the purposes of a new settlement. 
Among these latter, however, were a few whose 
inherent energy of character speedily rendered 
them conspicuous both for conduct and enter- 
prise. The most remarkable of all, both on 
account of his previous adventures, and the ro- 
mantic incidents connected with his subsequent 
history, was Captain John Smith. Although his 
age did not at this time much exceed thirty years, 
he had already acquired a fame for noble daring, 
and a character for singular exploits, which, were 
they not so well authenticated, would in this age 
be esteemed as little less than fabulous. 

Bred to the profession of a soldier, his first 
efi'ort in arms was in the Low Countries, where 
he fought for the independence of Holland. 
From thence he travelled through France, visited 



34 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1606. 

Egypt, and returned to Italy. Having there 
heard of an hereditary warfare between the Chris- 
tian and the Moor on the borders of Hungary, 
he repaired thither, and in three successive com- 
bats, with as many infidel champions, came off 
victorious. He thus gained the favour of Sigis- 
mund, the unfortunate Prince of Transylvania, 
by whom he was commissioned as a captain in the 
army of Christendom. 

Overpowered by numbers, in a sudden skirmish 
with the Moslems among the glens of Wallachia, 
he was severely wounded, and left for dead upon 
the field. He was soon after carried to Con- 
stantinople, as a prisoner of war, and sold in its 
market for a slave. 

The lady of his master, taking pity on his suf- 
ferings, and admiring his bravery, sent him to 
her friend in the Crimea, intending from thence 
to restore him to freedom. Contrary, however, 
to her commands, he was there subjected to the 
severest hardships, against which his indignant 
spirit rebelled. Rising upon his task-master, 
whom he slew in the struggle, he mounted a horse 
and escaped into Russia. Travelling across that 
country on foot to Transylvania, he bade adieu to 
his companions, and resolved to return to Eng- 
land. 

Hearing, however, on his journey thither, of 
civil wars raging in Northern Africa, he hastened 
to Morocco in search of new adventures, and pro- 



1607.] JAMESTOWN. 35 

ceeded thence to his own country, where he arrived 
some short time previous to the period when New- 
port and others were about to sail for Virginia. 
Partaking of their excitement, at the instance of 
Captain Gosnold, he embarked with them, and 
was destined at a future day to render his name, 
already famous in the old world, immortal in the 
new. 



CHAPTER II. 

Jamestown — Description of site selected for settlement — Ga- 
thering of the colonists — Charges preferred against Captain 
John Smith — His innocence substantiated — Wingfield fined 
■ — Exploration of James River — Village of Powhattan — De- 
scription of an Indian village — Its place of games — Its sacred 
fire — Sepulchre of the chiefs — Their idol Kiw^asa — Construc- 
tion of their wigwams — Internal arrangement — Regal state 
of Powhattan — His wives — Obedience of his subjects — His 
places of residence — Orapakes — Description of Powhattan's 
dwelling — Character of Powhattan. 

About fifty miles from the mouth of James 
River, and forming a part of its left bank, as the 
stream flows, there is a remarkable tongue of 
land, jutting well out into the river, which is 
navigable up to this point for ships of the largest 
burden. The lower shoulder of this peninsula 
is intersected by a creek, which, curving sharply 
across it, nearly cuts it oiF from the main land. 
It was this peninsula which the adventurers se- 



36 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

lected as the site for their colony, and named it 
Jamestown. 

The reasons which influenced the council in 
their selection, were, probably, its capabilities of 
defence from the natives, and its easy access 
from the ocean. In most other respects the 
situation thus deliberately chosen was unfavour- 
able. The banks were low, and the place, by rea- 
son of marshes in its immediate vicinity, pecu- 
liarly unhealthy to persons whose constitutions 
had been formed in the less genial, but more in- 
vigorating climate of England. It has long since 
been deserted for more attractive localities, and 
all the indications that now remain of its early 
settlement are the venerable ruins of an old brick 
church, and a few half obliterated graves within 
whose narrow limits the ashes of the first adven- 
turers repose. 

Let us now take a retrospective glance at the 
busy scene which exhibited itself to the eyes of 
the wondering savages on the 13th of May, 1607, 
a day to be remembered for ever in the annals of 
the American nation. 

Close in to the bank, for the depth of water 
admits of this proximity, are moored three ves- 
sels, the largest of which is not superior to the 
common bay craft which now navigate its river. 
Two of these, Newport's ship of one hundred tons, 
and another of forty, after disembarking the im- 
migrants and unloading the stores, are to return 



1607.] CHARGES AGAINST SMITH. ^ 

to England freighted with such articles as the 
country will immediately yield. The third, a 
pinnace of twenty tons, is to remain in Virginia 
for the use of the colonists. 

The latter are already disembarked, and with 
a vigour which will soon suffer abatement, are 
busily employed in felling timber, defending their 
provisions from the chances of the weather, and 
securing their arms in dry vats. In among the 
tall and stately trees, tents, the first temporary 
habitations of the settlers, are seen whitely gleam- 
ing. After a while the men break from their 
work, and congregating together, listen, beneath 
the overarching greenery of the sylvan wilder- 
ness, to an oration from Mr. Wingfield, who has 
been appointed governor, explaining the reason 
why Captain Smith — though so nominated in 
England — is not admitted as one of the coun- 
cil. 

Even while on shipboard, the superiority of 
the young man Smith to the rest of his com- 
panions had so manifested itself as to excite the 
base fears and malignant envy of a few well-con- 
ditioned, but feeble- spirited men, who were am- 
bitious of supreme rule in the new land to which 
they were then bound. 

During the voyage he had been suddenly 

seized and imprisoned, and upon the landing of 

* the colonists, he was charged by Wingfield, who 

appears to have been his principal enemy, with 



38 HISTOEY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

an intention of usurping the government, murder- 
ing the council, and making himself king. 

Fearing to bring a charge of so heinous a 
nature to open proof, Wingfield and his confede- 
rates aifected, from a merciful disposition, to re- 
frain from trying their prisoner in the colony for 
a crime which, if substantiated, would involve the 
taking of his life, and strenuously insisted upon 
sending him back to England, to undergo merely 
the milder censure of the superior council. 

These efforts Smith as strongly resented. He 
demanded to be confronted with the unknown 
witnesses of his accusers ; and as the public voice 
sympathized with the justness of his demand, 
Wingfield was compelled to acquiesce. After 
many shifts and delays, the trial was commenced ; 
the result of which was, that all the company saw 
through the malice of Smith's enemies : those 
suborned to accuse him, accused their employers 
of subornation ; Wingfield incurred the general 
hatred of the colony, and was mulcted in a fine 
of two hundred pounds, as a compensation to 
Smith for his sufferings. This fine, the latter 
immediately made over to the public store for the 
general use of the immigrants. 

By the exhortations of Mr. Hunt, a pious 
clergyman, who was much beloved by the colo- 
nists, a reconciliation took place soon afterward 
between Smith and his adversaries, and Smith 
was admitted a member of the council. The 



1607.] POWHATTAN. 39 

next day all received the communion. Between 
energy and uprightness on the one hand, and 
•weakness and malignity on the other, no perma- 
nent harmony was to be expected. 

Such was the first episode which distinguished 
the settlement of Jamestown ; others of a more 
fearful character were soon to follow. 

In the mean while, however, and pending the 
day set apart for his trial. Smith was permitted 
to accompany Newport in the pinnace to discover 
the head of the river. Cautiously exploring 
the creeks and inlets on their way, they reached 
on the sixth day a village of twelve houses or 
wigwams, within a mile of the falls of James 
River, and a little below where the town of Rich- 
mond now stands. 

This village, pleasantly situated on a hill, with 
three fertile isles before it, and surrounded by a 
corn-field, was called Powhattan. The name of 
its chief in the Indian tongue was Wahunsano- 
cock. He was called by the English Powhattan, 
from the chief seat and metropolis of his heredi- 
tary dominion ; and, by way of eminence, the 
emperor. 

When the English landed in Virginia, its 
native population was broken up into a number 
of petty tribes, numbering some eight thousand 
souls, generally at war with each other, and yet 
loosely united into a sort of confederacy, of 
which Wahunsanocock, or Powhattan, as he 



40 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

was subsequently called, was the acknowledged 
chief. 

In the times of the first European settlers, the 
construction of the wigwams of the natives and 
the arrangement of their towns difi'ered very ma- 
terially from those of their descendants at the 
present day. 

Most of the Indian villages in Virginia, were 
enclosed by a palisade of strong upright poles, 
firmly planted in the ground near to each other, 
and penetrated only by a single narrow entrance. 
Within and around this circular area, the houses 
were disposed, leaving a clear open space in the 
centre. Upon some part of this open space was 
a smaller circle, enclosed by six or seven posts, 
somewhat higher than a man, rudely carved with 
human faces of a hideous or grotesque character. 
Here it was, at certain seasons of the year, they 
assembled with their neighbours to celebrate their 
solemn feasts with songs and dances. On the 
opposite side from this place, set apart for the 
purposes of festivity, were as many other posts 
set low in the ground, in the midst of which 
their sacred fire was kept always burning. Near 
to the latter was the sepulchre of their chiefs, an 
oblong building with a semicircular roof, similar 
in appearance without to the better class of dwell- 
ings. Internally the arrangements were very 
difi'erent. Entering this gloomy structure, the 
first thing that the eye rested upon was a raised 



1607.] ABORIGINAL CUSTOMS. 41 

platform, some nine or ten feet in height, on 
which, side by side in extended rows, lay the 
dead bodies of their chiefs, whose bowels and 
fleshy parts had been removed, dried, and en- 
closed in boxes, at the feet of the skeletons, over 
which the skin was carefully replaced. Beneath 
this horribl-e platform was the habitation of a 
priest, whose duty was, night and day, to mutter 
prayers and watch the dead. At the side above, 
on a raised seat overlooking the bodies, was placed 
their idol Kiwasa, a roughly carved figure about 
four feet high, with its face painted red, its breast 
white, and the rest of its body black, except the 
legs, which were variegated with white. Folds 
of delicately dressed deer-skin encircled the loins, 
and around the neck were suspended loose neck- 
laces of white beads, mixed with larger ones of 
copper. 

The wigwams, or houses, were constructed of 
light saplings, bent over to meet each other at 
the top in the form of an arbour, the light ribs 
being firmly strengthened by transverse poles 
securely fastened. Over this frame was thrown 
a close covering of mats made of reeds, and im- 
pervious to the weather. Around the interior 
walls ran a slight Aarrow staging, raised from the 
ground a foot or more ; on this they slept, covered 
with mats or skins, the head of one slumberer 
touching the feet of another. Some of these 
wigwams were a hundred feet in length, and ex- 



4* 



42 HISTORY OP VIRGmiA. [1607. 

hibited a slight increase in civilization by being 
divided into separate compartments, the best con- 
structed containing four or five. 

Primitive, however, as was the condition of his 
subjects, Powhattan exacted from them as many 
ceremonial observances as were then or are now 
paid to the potentates of more enlightened coun- 
tries. He kept about his person from forty to 
fifty men. Every night four sentinels were sta- 
tioned at the four corners of his dwelling, and 
at each half hour one of his body-guard made a 
signal to the four sentinels. He kept as many 
wives as he thought proper. When the English 
saw him at home reclining on his couch, or plat- 
form, there was always one sitting at his head 
and another at his feet ; and when he sat, two of 
them seated themselves on either side of him. 
At his meals, one of them brought him a wooden 
platter in which to wash his hands before and 
after eating, while another attended him with a 
bunch of feathers for a towel ; some were the 
daughters, and some had been the wives, of dis- 
tinguished rivals and enemies conquered in battle. 
When he became weary of them, he transferred 
them as presents to his favourite warriors. 

So imposing was the authority he exercised 
over his rude followers, that when he spoke, they 
obeyed him as a king, and esteemed him with a 
reverence allied to divinity. What he commanded, 
they immediately performed ; they presented at 



1607.] powhattan's kingly state. 43 

his feet whatever he directed to be brought, and 
at the least frown of his brow the boldest of them 
would tremble with fear. 

In one particular aspect, Powhattan possessed 
a decided advantage over his brother monarchs 
in Europe ; he could make his own robes, shoes, 
bows, arrows, and pots, besides planting his corn 
for exercise, and hunting deer for amusement. 
Like other emperors, Powhattan had as many as 
three or four places of residence. One of these 
was at Werowocomoco, on the Pamunky River, a 
little in the rear and below Jamestown. Its prox- 
imity to the English settlements soon caused him 
to abandon the latter for his royal house at Ora- 
pakes, somewhere near the head waters of the 
Chickahominy, as rendering him less likely to be 
disturbed by those whom he could not but con- 
sider as disagreeable neighbours. 

During the last years of his life, he secluded 
himself at Orapakes almost entirely. Here were 
deposited his royalties and his revenue, skins, 
copper, beads and paint, bows and arrows, tar- 
gets and clubs. The house itself was of great 
length. Four rudely graven images of wood were 
stationed at the four corners — one representing 
a dragon, the second a bear, the third a pan- 
ther, and the fourth a gigantic man ; all made 
" evil favouredly," according to the best work- 
manship of the natives. Such was the regal and 
barbarous state in which lived the Emperor Pow- 



44 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

hattan, the father of the gentle princess Pocahon- 
tas, whose tender and graceful deeds will shortly 
appear on the pages of this history. 

Shrewd and politic, this ancient monarch of 
the wilderness quietly retreated to a distance 
from the new comers, whose singular and unex- 
pected advent he could not but view with alarm, 
though he prudently concealed his fears. Remote- 
ness and forbearance he felt to be his best safe- 
guard ; and when some of his subjects complained 
at the intrusion of the strangers, he wisely 
checked their rising anger by calmly replying : 
« That the strangers did not hurt them ; they 
only took a little of their waste land." 

Whether, if the first settlers had conformed 
strictly to the orders fr-om England, by which 
kindness to the savages was enjoined, they could 
have dwelt in peace and friendship with their 
sylvan neighbours, is a problem which involves 
some difficulty in its solution. Captain Smith 
subsequently answered the question in his own 
sharp cutting way. He evidently regarded the 
nature of the Indian as similar to that of the 
Egyptian Arab, whose love for an individual is 
in proportion to the fear with which he inspires 
him ; and certainly, if the reverence accorded to 
that gallant martialist by his savage antagonists 
be considered as any evidence of their esteem, it 
must be acknowledged that he made his proposi- 
tion good. 



1607.] penn's management. 45 

It was reserved for William Penn to solve the 
problem in a different and far more merciful way. 
In forming our judgment, however, it must be 
recollected that Penn met the Indians under au- 
spices infinitely more favourable to the success 
of his mission. The English were then numerous 
in the land, their strength was known and tested, 
their courage justly feared, and the savages 
could, at that time, have entertained no very 
sanguine hopes of success in the event of rising 
to attempt the expulsion of the intruders. 

And yet, notwithstanding these arguments, we 
incline to the belief that Penn was right, and 
that the interpretation of the bolder and elder 
adventurer was erroneous. 



46 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 



CHAPTER III. 

Description of the colonists — Gentlemen idlers — Noticeable 
men — Mr. Hunt — 'Mr. George Percy — Captain Bartholomew 
Gosnold — His death — Portrait of Captain John Smith — Care- 
less security of the colonists — Attacked by the Indians — Fort 
built and palisadoed — Newport leaves for England — Famine 
and sickness in the colony — Selfishness of Wingfield — At- 
tempts to escape from the colony — Deposed — Sufferings 
of the settlers — Their providential deliverance — Energy of 
Smith — Explores the country for provisions — Conspiracy of 
Wingfield and Kendall — Death of Kendall — Abundance in 
the colony. 

While Smith and his companions were on 
their return voyage from the royal village of 
Powhattan, an event occurred at Jamestown 
which seriously endangered the permanence of 
the settlement. 

But before we narrate the incidents connected 
with this affair, it may, perhaps, be as well to 
give a passing glance at the colonists themselves. 

We have already stated that more than one- 
half of those who were destined to form the 
nucleus of a great and powerful nation were 
gentlemen by birth and education. But, if by 
this it should be understood that the majority of 
them were men of wealth and standing in their 
own land, the conclusion would be very far from 
correct. On the contrary, at least four-fifths of 



1607.] aENTLEMEN IDLERS. 47 

those who styled themselves gentlemen, and by 
the courtesy of their companions were acknow- 
ledged as such, were starveling gallants, thriftless 
younger sons, reckless tavern-haunting vagabonds, 
sent by their friends to Virginia, to escape a 
worse fate at home ; — a part of that floating scum 
which always rises in the midst of a dense popu- 
lation. 

These idle do-nothings in taffeta rags, with 
roses in their shoes, and swaling feathers in their 
hats, swaggered about among the more industrious 
settlers, too proud to soil their delicate hands with 
labour, but always ready to claim their full share 
of the contents of the common kettle. 

It was of these gentlemen, impoverished in 
spirit and fortune, — these rakes and libertines, 
men more fitted to corrupt, than to found a com- 
monwealth, — that Captain Smith, at a later day, 
indignantly wrote to the council in London, say- 
ing : " I entreat you, when you send next, to 
send thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, 
fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers-up 
of trees' roots, rather than a thousand such as 
we have." 

But while the vitality of the infant colony was 
thus hampered by the dead weight of these 
hangers-on, there yet remained a few noticeable 
men, of the better class, who constantly endea- 
voured, both by precept and example, to sustain 
its failing energies. 



48 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

First among these, in respect to his walk and 
calling, must be mentioned the good clergyman, 
Mr. Hunt. Those who have studied to any pur- 
pose the contemporaneous chronicles of the early 
struggles in Virginia, cannot fail to recall the 
mild, pale, patient face of this worthiest and most 
beloved of men, — he who by his good doctrines 
and exhortations so often succeeded in soothing 
the angry, checking the unruly, and reconciling 
those who were at enmity with each other. 

Another of the immigrants was Mr. George 
Percy, a brother of the Earl of Northumberland, 
who in 1611 received from the hands of Lord 
De la Warre the government of the colony, and is 
worthily praised by him as a gentleman of honour 
and resolution. 

Among the more remarkable of the immigrants, 
might also have been seen the weather-beaten 
form of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, an elderly 
mariner, who, having previously made several 
voyages along the coast of America, became one 
of the most enthusiastic and efficient promoters 
of the enterprise which led to its settlement. 
The honest old seaman did not live long enough 
to witness the success of the scheme he had so 
generously fostered. Within a few months after 
his landing upon the peninsula of Jamestown, 
there was an open grave in the little churchyard 
of the colony, and around it stood many haggard 
and half-famished mourners, while the voice of 



1607.] PROMINENT SETTLERS. 49 

good Mr. Hunt, in accents mournful yet solemn, 
murmured those awfully sublime words which form 
the grandest service for the dead in any known 
tongue. 

But the man of men, he who, though but of 
medium stature, was elevated by his deeds a full 
head and shoulders above his companions, was 
young Captain John Smith. His portrait yet 
remains for the satisfaction of those curious in 
such matters. A sturdy, athletic figure, clad in 
leathern doublet and trunk hose, gathered loosely 
at the knee ; low-quartered shoes beneath, and 
on his head a broad-leaved beaver: the face, 
indicative of the man, bearded like the pard, 
swarthy, and of a leonine aspect. 

Returning to Jamestown, we shall find, that 
during the absence of Smith and his compa- 
nions — an absence extended to some eight or ten 
days — but little was done by the colonists. 

Wingfield, the governor, as feeble and vacil- 
lating as he had heretofore proved himself ma- 
licious, was but ill calculated to direct and govern 
as unruly a set of spirits as were ever associated 
together, even in a tavern haunt of Alsatia. New- 
port was with Smith, and though there yet 
remained behind four gentlemen of the council 
only, Kendall and good old Captain Gosnold 
laboured to preserve order and diligence, with 
such energy as was in them. 

In the mean time, the Indians, with a great 

5 



50 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

show of friendship, visited the settlers daily, 
bringing with them many presents of game and 
fish, in order to render their coming as welcome 
as possible. Admitted thus freely into the heart 
of the encampment, and mingling without re- 
straint with both workmen and idlers, the quick- 
eyed savages soon observed that every man was 
unarmed ; and that the only protection from 
assault was a light semicircular breastwork, 
formed of the boughs of trees, which had been 
thrown up by the diligence of Captain Kendall. 

This state of careless security, without doubt, 
instigated the Indians, already jealous of their 
lands being thus unceremoniously seized, to at- 
tempt, by a sudden attack, either the extermina- 
tion or expulsion of the strange intruders. 

Accordingly, the day before the return of 
Smith from Powhattan, and while the settlers 
were scattered in various parts of the encamp- 
ment, they were surprised by the sudden hurtling 
of a cloud of arrows, followed by the shrill war- 
whoop of the savages. Seventeen men fell wound- 
ed, and a boy was slain ; the remainder of the 
colonists rushed with confused outcries towards 
the ships, followed by their swarthy and exulting 
foes. Fortunately, a quick hand from one of the 
ships fired a cross-bar shot at the pursuers, 
which, striking down a bough of a tree among 
them, caused them to retire as precipitately as 
they had at first advanced. 



1607.] FAMINE AND SICKNESS. 51 

Thus terribly admonished, Wingfield no longer 
opposed the arming of the settlers. All other 
labour was suspended until a strong fort could 
be erected and palisadoed ; and, when this was 
accomplished, Newport sailed for England, leav- 
ing the colonists to their own resources. 

These resources were soon found to be meagre 
enough. The ships had scarcely been gone ten 
days before almost every man in the colony was 
reduced to a state of extreme weakness, either 
from want of food, or from the relaxing character 
of the climate. 

The means of subsistence were indeed alarm- 
ingly scanty. Half a pint of wheat, and as much 
barley, boiled in water, constituted each man's 
daily allowance, and these, having <' fried" some 
twenty-six weeks in the ship's hold, contained as 
many worms as grains. " Had we been as free 
from sins as from gluttony and drunkenness," 
writes Smith, " we might have been canonized as 
saints." 

But in the midst of this dreadful famine and 
sickness, and while his despairing people were 
fast sinking around him, Wingfield the governor 
took excellent care that his own personal com- 
fort should suffer as little abatement as possible, 
by engrossing to his private use the beef, wine, 
oatmeal, and eggs, remaining in the public store. 

Finding, at length, the long suppressed indig- 
nation of the colonists was roused against him, 



52 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

he attempted to add treachery to selfishness. 
He conspired with some few others, among whom 
perhaps Captain Kendall was one, to seize the 
pinnace, and by thus cutting off the last hope 
of escape to the settlers, leave them to their fate. 
What that fate would have been, it is not difficult 
to imagine. 

Fortunately, the design was discovered, and as 
promptly frustrated. Wingfield and Kendall were 
deposed from their offices, and Ratcliffe elected 
governor. 

Harassed continually by the savages, and 
weakened by labour, famine, and disease, within 
four months, or between May and September, 
one-half of the colonists died ; while the remain- 
ing fifty, less happy than those who had gone 
before, barely managed to sustain life from day 
to day, by the sturgeon and crabs, which for their 
constant wants, the river too scantily afforded. 

At length, when all their provision was gone, 
when even sturgeon was no longer to be had, and 
while they were hourly expecting to fall beneath 
the fury of the savages, by what Smith rightly 
ascribes to the interposition of an overwatching 
Providence, a remarkable circumstance took place. 
Those very savages, hitherto so watchful and un- 
relenting, filled with pity for the sufferings of 
which they had been so long hostile witnesses, 
brought to the poor, famished, and despairing 
settlers so great an abundance of fruit and pro- 



1607.] ENERGY OF SMITH. 53 

visions, that health was speedily restored, and no 
man any longer wanted for food. 

By the death of Captain Gosnoldand the depo- 
sition of "VVingfield and Kendall, the government 
of the colony fell into the hands of three persons 
only ; Ratcliffe, the governor, and Martin, and 
Smith, of the council. The two former, being 
men of weak judgment in danger, and little in- 
dustry in peace, soon committed the management 
of affairs abroad into the hands of their more 
energetic associate. 

The happy consequence of this surrender of 
power to the only man capable of exercising it to 
the best advantage, was soon made clearly appa- 
rent. Placing himself at the head of the work 
to be performed, Smith set some to build houses, 
some to mow and collect reeds, and others to 
thatch ; always selecting the severest labour for 
himself; so that, in a short time, he had provided 
the most of his companions with comfortable 
dwellings, neglecting any for his own use. When 
this was done, finding the provisions brought in 
by the savages falling short, he took the pinnace, 
and made several journeys to Kecoughtan and 
the river Chickahominy, where he succeeded in 
obtaining supplies of corn. 

But what he carefully provided, the rest as 
carelessly spent ; and while he was absent, Wing- 
field and Kendall, then living in disgrace, enticed 
some sailors and others to join them in seizing 

5* 



54 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

the pinnace, with the intention of deserting the 
colony and sailing for England. The conspiracy 
was very near being successful ; just as they were 
in the act of taking their departure, Smith un- 
expectedly returned, and bringing his cannon to 
bear upon the receding vessel, compelled the con- 
spirators either to stay, or sink. They chose to 
haul to, and surrender, but not until after Captain 
Kendall had fallen in the action. A little while 
subsequent to this, another project was formed 
by Governor Ratcliffe and Captain Archer to 
obtain the pinnace, and abandon the country. 
This plot was also discovered, and as promptly 
suppressed by Smith. And now, the winter ap- 
proaching, the rivers became so covered with wild 
fowl that they daily feasted. What with good 
bread, vegetables, fish, and various sorts of game, 
as fat as they could eat them, even the most 
froward and dissatisfied among them became per- 
fectly reconciled to the country, and no longer 
desired to leave it. 



1607.] JEALOUSY OF SMITH. 55 



CHAPTER lY. 

Smith's superior abilities create envy — He explores the Chicka- 
honiiny River to its source — Three of his men slain by the 
Indians — Smith taken prisoner — Led in procession to Ora- 
pakes — Gratitude of a savage — Smith carried in triumph 
through various tribes — Reaches Pamunkey — Singular con- 
jurations of the medicine-men — Is taken to Werowocomoco 
— Regal state of Povi^hattan — Smith sentenced to death — 
Rescued by Pocahontas — His release — Returns to James- 
town — Represses the malcontents — They plot his death — ■ 
His summary proceedings. 

The superior talents of Captain Smith had by 
this time made themselves so manifest, that in 
proportion to the esteem in which he was held by 
the generality of the people, he was hated by the 
malcontents whose evil designs he had so signally 
thwarted. 

Even the governor and Captain Martin, finding 
their official station but lightly regarded, began 
to look upon their more vigorous associate with 
an evil eye. Being determined to rid themselves 
of his presence in the settlement as much as pos- 
sible, they taunted Smith with not having dis- 
covered the head of Chickahominy River, and 
charged him with dilatoriness. The fiery and 
impetuous soldier, who could but ill brook an 
accusation of this kind, immediately set sail on 
his voyage of exploration, although the season 
was so far advanced as to make the adventure 
both dangerous and uncertain. 



56 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

Entering the river, he sailed toward its source, 
until its manifold obstructions prevented his barge 
from proceeding any farther. Leaving his little 
vessel at the distance of a bow-shot from the 
shore, after giving strict orders to his crew not to 
land, but to await his return, he entered a small 
canoe, and with two Englishmen and a couple of 
Indian guides, penetrated twenty miles higher, 
until he reached the marshes which were formed 
at the head of the river. 

He was scarcely out of sight of the barge, be- 
fore the men, disobeying his commands, went 
ashore and were surprised by the Indians, who 
had been directed by Opechancanough, the 
brother of Powhattan, to watch their motions. 
One man, George Cassen, was captured, and after 
being interrogated as to the direction taken by 
Captain Smith, was put to death. The rest 
escaped with difficulty to the barge. 

The Indians now started in pursuit of Smith, 
killed the two men he had left in charge of his 
canoe, and at length discovered the captain him- 
self. Although surrounded by two hundred sa- 
vages. Smith, unconscious of the fate which had 
befallen his companions, resolved to attempt a 
retreat towards his canoe. Binding the Indian 
guide to his arm as a shield against the arrows of 
his foes, he kept up a running fire upon them, 
killed three, and wounded many others. During 
this time, however, Smith himself had not escaped 



1607.] SMITH CAPTURED. 57 

wholly unscathed. One arrow had already pierced 
his thigh, and several penetrated his clothes ; 
but his courage was so well appreciated, and the 
dread of his fire-arms was so great, that it is pro- 
bable he might even then have succeeded in 
making good his escape, if, while retiring with 
his face toward his foes, he had not fallen into a 
marshy creek. Notwithstanding he was thus 
most effectually disabled, the Indians were afraid 
to approach him until, being nearly dead with 
cold, he threw away his arms. 

Drawing him from the creek, they led him 
toward his canoe, where the first sight that met 
his eyes was the dead bodies of his two men, 
shot full of arrows, and lying by the fire they 
had lighted ; the embers of which were still glow- 
ing. 

After suffering the Indians to chafe his be- 
numbed limbs until the blood once more circulated 
freely, Smith demanded to be shown their chief. 

As soon as Opechancanough presented himself, 
the young soldier drew from his pocket a round 
ivory double compass dial, and gave it to his 
captor. The savages immediately gathered round 
the singular piece of mechanism, and were greatly 
astonished at the incessant motion of the needle, 
which they could see so plainly, and yet not 
touch, because of the glass by which it was co- 
vered. But when Smith demonstrated, by means 
of that little instrument, the roundness of the 



58 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

earth and skies, the spherical character of the 
sun, moon, and stars, and many other suchlike 
mysteries, they were filled with awe and admira- 
tion. 

If, however, the bold young soldier sought by 
this means to ingratiate himself with the savages 
and so win them over to his release, he was 
doomed to a bitter disappointment. Within an 
hour afterward they suddenly pinioned his arms, 
and tying him to a tree, as many as could stand 
about him bent their bows, and were in the act 
of despatching him, when Opechancanough, hold- 
ing up the compass in his hand, commanded them 
to desist. 

He was then led in triumphant procession, 
under a strong guard, to the town of Orapakes. 
As he approached it, all the women and children 
came out to gaze at the great warrior, whose re- 
nown had already preceded him. 

On entering the town the procession halted. 
The Indians, then forming a ring, danced wildly 
about their prisoner, accompanying their uncouth 
gestures with songs and ear-piercing yells. 

All this while Smith and Opechancanough 
stood in the midst guarded. "When the dances 
were ended, Opechancanough conducted his pri- 
soner to a long house, covered with mats, where 
he was placed under the protection of some thirty 
or forty warriors, every one with his head and 
shoulders painted of a bright scarlet colour, and 



1607.] SMITH IMPRISONED. 59 

all of them bearing bows in their hands, a quiver 
of arrows and a club slung at their backs, and on 
the arm of each, by way of vambrace, a fox, or 
otter's skin. 

Food was soon afterward set before him in quan- 
tities sufficient for twenty men, and at midnight 
another and equally abundant supply was brought 
in. What he did not eat was put into baskets and 
slung to the rafters above his head. No one was 
suffered to partake of the meal with him. 

The next morning fresh provisions were 
brought, and in such profusion, that Smith con- 
jectured the design of the savages was to fatten, 
and then eat him. Even in this desperate strait, 
he met with an instance of gratitude which is 
well worthy of record. 

Observing him to shiver with the cold, an Indian 
by the name of Macassater stript himself of his 
own robe and gave it to Smith, in requital for 
some beads and other toys which the latter had 
presented him on his first arrival in Virginia. 

The second day of his imprisonment, an Indian, 
in revenge for the loss of his son, who then lay 
mortally wounded, attempted to murder Smith, 
but his purpose was prevented by the timely in- 
terposition of the guards. 

It is an evidence of their credulous belief in 
the almost supernatural power of their prisoner, 
that they conducted him to the couch of the 
dying man, with the hope of his being yet able 



60 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. . [1607. 

to restore Mm to health. With that quickness 
of perception which so eminently marked the 
character of the man, Smith immediately profited 
by the opportunity. He told them, that at James- 
town he had a water that would do it, if they 
would permit him to go there for it ; this, how- 
ever, they shrewdly declined. On the contrary, 
they made great preparations for an assault upon 
the settlement, and sought the advice of their 
prisoner. As an inducement to assist them, they 
offered him life, liberty, and land. The wily 
soldier neither accepted nor refused, but, tempo- 
rizing with them, obtained with great difficulty 
permission to send messengers to the fort, bear- 
ing his table-book, ostensibly for the purpose of 
obtaining certain things for his own use, but in 
reality with a view to inform the colonists of his 
situation, and place them on their guard against 
surprise. 

Notwithstanding the way was long, and the 
weather bitter cold, the messengers performed 
their journey and returned to Orapakes within 
three days, wondering greatly by what strange 
conjurations it was that a small piece of white 
paper could be made to talk. 

But if this, to them, singular faculty of convey- 
ing his thoughts to a distance by means of certain 
arbitrary characters, led them to regard their 
prisoner with increased awe, it did not prevent 
them from rejoicing still more heartily at the 



1607.] INDIAN INCANTATIONS. 61 

knowledge that so dangerous a man was a cap- 
tive in their hands. 

Triumphantly, and with songs and dances, they 
led him captive through the chief towns of the 
surrounding tribes, and thence back again to the 
king's habitation at Pamunkey. 

At this place a consultation appears to have 
been held among the chief priests and medicine- 
men of the various tribes. The subject of their 
deliberations was one of great gravity and mo- 
ment. It was to ascertain whether the captive 
white warrior, whose marvellous doings chal- 
lenged alike the admiration and the fears of the 
savages, was possessed of evil intentions toward 
them. 

It was a knotty problem, the solution of which 
could only be obtained by fearful conjurations, 
and the exercise of their best skill in art magic. 

Accordingly, one morning, a great fire was 
made in one of the larger wigwams, and on op- 
posite sides of the fire mats were spread. Then 
Smith, with his hands firmly bound, was brought 
in by his guards, and after being seated upon a 
mat was left, for a short time, entirely alone. 
Presently a man, painted black, holding a gourd 
rattle in his hand, and covered above his head 
and shoulders with snakes and weasel's skins, 
bounded into the apartment, chanting an invo- 
cation ; with a loud voice and many passionate 
gestures, he encircled the fire with a broad ring 



62 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 



of Indian meal. When this was accomplished, 
three others came rushing in, painted parti- 
coloured, in black, red, and white. After danc- 
ing and gesticulating for a while, these last were 
joined by three more, painted red about the eyes, 
and with their blackened faces relieved by streaks 
of white. These also danced about their prisoner 
in a savage and grotesque manner, and then they 
all sat down opposite to Smith, three on the one 
side of the chief medicine-man, and three on the 
other. 

They now commenced a song. When it was 
ended, the chief medicine-man laid down five 
grains of corn. After working himself into such 
a passionate phrensy that his veins swelled out 
like cords, and the perspiration was visible in 
large drops, h^ began a short oration, at the con- 
clusion of which they all gave a groan. Many 
other brief orations followed, all of which were 
terminated by a groan, and the dropping of three 
additional grains, until the fire was twice en- 
circled by these little heaps of corn. Small bun- 
dles of sticks were now laid with similar ceremo- 
nies between each division of corn. When the 
approach of night put an end to the conjurations, 
which had been performed fasting, they all ate 
and drank heartily, and then retired. The con- 
clusion to which the priests arrived, after three 
days spent in this manner, may be reasonably 
inferred from what followed. 



1607.] POCAHONTAS. 63' 

All this time, Powhattan the emperor, stand- 
ing apparently upon his dignity, waited at We- 
rowocomoco until the captive should be brought 
before him. When Smith reached there, the pro- 
cession was increased at the entrance of the town 
by the addition of two hundred warriors. It now 
halted, till Powhattan, arrayed in his robes of 
dignity, gave permission for the captive to be 
admitted into his presence. 

In his royal dwelling, upon a raised seat, sat 
King Powhattan, covered with a great robe made 
of raccoon-skins. On each side of him sat a 
young girl of sixteen or eighteen years ; and, 
stretching along both walls of the house were 
two rows of men, and behind them, as many wo- 
men. Standing near the feet of Powhattan, was 
an Indian maiden, some thirteen years of age, 
clad in a succinct robe of the pliantest deer-skin, 
prettily fringed, and musical with tinkling orna- 
ments. Around her neck she wore several long 
necklaces of white beads, through which her left 
arm was looped, after the custom of the Indian 
girls in those days. It was Pocahontas, the 
favourite daughter of King Powhattan. 

When the captain entered, all the people gave 
a great shout ; but Pocahontas, flinging back the 
jet black hair from her swarthy brow, gazed 
eagerly upon the bearded face of the wonderful 
white warrior, and uttered never a word. 

Food was now brought and set before Smith. 



64 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1607. 

The queen of Appomattox attended him with 
water to wash his hands, while another stood by 
to hand him a bunch of feathers, instead of a 
towel, to dry them. 

After he had eaten, a long consultation was 
held by Powhattan and his swarthy advisers in 
relation to the future disposal of their prisoner. 
The conclusion they came to had at least the 
merit of being summary. 

Two great stones were brought in and placed 
upon the ground before Powhattan. At a signal 
from the latter, as many warriors as could grasp 
the prisoner sprang toward him, and dragged him, 
struggling fiercely, to where the stones were set. 
Upon these, some forced their captive to lay his 
head, while others stood behind, with their war- 
clubs upraised, ready to beat out his brains. 

During this scene of excitement and terror, the 
Princess Pocahontas stood near by, agitated be- 
yond measure at the impending fate of the brave 
young soldier. Seeing the warriors nerving them- 
selves to strike, she broke away from those who 
would have restrained her, and seizing the head 
of Smith in her arms, laid her own head upon 
his, saving, by this heroic act, the life of England's 
worthiest adventurer, and making her name im- 
mortal in the annals of the new world. Two days 
after this unexpected deliverance, Powhattan re- 
leased Smith from his imprisonment, and sent him 
under the conduct of twelve guides to Jamestown. 



1607.] smith's return. 65 

Before the emperor took leave of his captive, 
he made him promise to bestow upon the guides 
two great guns and a grindstone, for the use of 
their master. 

In two days they reached the fort, and after 
the savages were refreshed, Smith, mindful of his 
promise, pointed out to the servant of Powhattan 
two small pieces of cannon and a mill-stone, and 
bade him instruct his companions to carry them 
to Werowocomoco ; but, says the old chronicler 
with a grim smile, when they essayed to lift 
them they found them somewhat too heavy, and 
were fain to put up with toys and such like gew- 
gaws instead. 

Most fortunate was it for the safety of the 
colony that Smith was returned there so unex- 
pectedly. Only forty men remained alive, while 
the malcontents, consisting of those who called 
themselves the better sort, were making their 
preparations once more to run away with the 
pinnace, intending to leave their preacher, Mr. 
Hunt, and twenty-seven others, to their fate. For 
the third time, at the hazard of his life, Smith 
forced the conspirators to abandon their enter- 
prise. 

Finding their plans thus foiled, the wretched 

and malignant men, with Ratcliffe the governor 

at their head, turned upon Smith himself, and 

plotted to put him to death by the Levitical law 

for the loss of the two men who had been slain 

6* 



66 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1608. 

by the savages. They little knew with whom 
they had to deal. Before they could consummate 
their plans, they found themselves under arrest 
by the orders of Smith, who did not hesitate to 
imprison the principals until he could send them 
back to England. 



CHAPTER V. 

Arrival of the second supply — Newport opens a trade with 
Powhattan — Is outwitted by the emperor — Sagacity of Smith 
— Value of blue beads — ^Mania for gold-seeking in Virginia 
— Arrival of the Phoenix — Smith explores the Chesapeake 
' — Returns to Jamestown — Sails, and completes his discoveries 
— Character of Smith — Elected governor of Virginia — Arri- 
val of the third supply — Coronation of Powhattan — His regal 
intractability — Affairs at Jamestown — Energetic conduct of 
Smith — Powhattan attemps to starve out the colony — Expe- 
dition of Smith to Werowocomoco. 

The return of Newport from England with 
fresh though limited supplies, and one hundred 
and twenty immigrants, had the effect of abating 
for a little while the distracted condition of the 
colony. This happening shortly after the release 
of Smith, word was quickly sent to Powhattan 
that Newport had come back to Jamestown, and 
was preparing to pay him a visit. To make his 
reception gracious in advance, Newport sent Pow- 
hattan many presents, which he had brought over 
for him, and with the latter expressed himself 
much pleased. 

Taking with him in the pinnace a quantity of 



1608.] BAETER WITH THE INDIANS. 67 

goods adapted, as he supposed, to the peculiar 
tastes of the Indians, Newport, accompanied by 
Smith, set sail, and in due time reached Wero- 
wocomoco, where they were received by Powhat- 
tan in his usual barbarous state. 

After having been duly feasted, and the cus- 
tomary songs and dances were over, Newport 
proposed to Powhattan to barter such commodi- 
ties as he had brought with him for corn, of which 
the colony stood in great need. 

Vulgar trade, however, the wily emperor af- 
fected to despise. << Captain Newport," said he, 
" it is not agreeable to my greatness, to truck in 
this peddling manner for trifles. I am a great 
Werowance ; and I esteem you as the same ; 
therefore, lay me down all your commodities to- 
gether : what I like I will take, and in return you 
shall have what I conceive to be their value." 

Smith reminded Captain Newport of the hazard 
he would incur by accepting the proposition ; but 
Newport, being a vain man, and expecting to daz- 
zle Powhattan by his bounty, complied with his 
request, and it unluckily proved as Smith had 
predicted. "The corn," said the latter, "might 
as well have been purchased in old Spain ; we 
received but four bushels, when we expected 
twenty hogsheads." 

Smith next tried his hand, and relied for suc- 
cess, not upon the emperor's sagacity, but on his 
simplicity. He accordingly took some toys, or 



68 HISTORY OF VIRGITs^IA. [1608. 

gewgaws, and by glancing them dexterously in 
the light, they showed to great advantage. 

Powhattan soon fixed his observing eye upon a 
string of blue beads, and became anxious to obtain 
them. Smith, however, seemed only the more un- 
willing to part with them ; "they being," as he 
said, " composed of a most rare substance of the 
colour of the skies, and fit only to be worn by 
the greatest kings in the world." But the more 
reluctant Smith affected to be, the more eager 
Powhattan grew to become the owner of such 
precious jewels ; and a bargain was at length 
struck between the subtle captain and the empe- 
ror, to the entire satisfaction of both parties ; by 
which Smith obtained, for a pound or two of blue 
beads, two or three hundred bushels of corn. 

By the same coy method of traffic, he subse- 
quently obtained at an equally small cost another 
large supply of corn from his old enemy, Ope- 
chancanough. King of Pamunkey. 

Blue beads, being thus elevated into imperial 
symbols of enormous value, afterward grew in 
such estimation among the Indians, that none but 
great Werowances, and their wives and daugh- 
ters, were permitted to wear them. 

Newport, having brought over with him, besides 
the usual complement of poor gentlemen, sundry 
goldsmiths and refiners, the mania for searching 
out mines of the precious metals spread through- 
out all classes of the colonists. Smith, with his 



1608.] GOLD MANIA. 69 

strong common sense, endeavoured to turn their 
thoughts into a more practical channel ; but in 
vain. The refiners, "with their golden promises, 
made all men their slaves. There was no talk 
now — no hope — no work; but dig gold — wash 
gold — refine gold — load gold, such a continual 
outcry about gold, that one mad fellow desired to 
be buried in the sands, lest they should by their 
art make gold of his bones. 

And thus the weeks flew by, and the ships 
stayed, until the provisions which should have 
supported the colonists were eaten up in a vain 
search after that, which to the last was never 
found. 

Smith never countenanced these golden schemes, 
but often told Captain Martin, that unless the re- 
finers could show him substantial proofs, he was 
not enamoured with their dirty skill. Nothing 
tormented him more than to see all necessary 
business thus neglected. He advised Newport to 
freight the ship with cedar, which could be done 
at once, rather than linger out his time, to the 
great detriment of the colony and the heavy cost 
of his employers. Newport, however, who, though 
a good seaman, was a self-opinionated man, pre- 
ferred to load his ship with spangled earth, and 
so he waited until the approach of spring, when 
he departed with his valueless burden. 

He had not been long gone, when the Phoenix, 
commanded by Captain Nelson, arrived at James- 



70 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1608. 

town, to the great joy of the colonists, who had 
given her up as lost. 

The captain of the Phoenix, being a less vision- 
ary man than his predecessor, agreed to freight 
his ship with cedar, and this being speedily ac- 
complished, he set sail for England. 

As soon as the colonists were left once more to 
follow their appropriate labours, Smith fitted out 
an open barge of three tons burden, and quitted 
Jamestown, with a crew of fourteen men, to ex- 
plore the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. 

When he first set sail, some of his men, who were 
newly arrived in Virginia, and had yet to learn 
the indomitable character of their leader, loudly 
expressed their fears that on the first alarm he 
would return to the settlement, leaving the object 
of his expedition unaccomplished ; but when they 
had been crowded in the small barge about two 
wrecks, often tired at the oars, and with their 
bread so spoiled with wet that it had become 
partly rotten, they began to murmur at his obsti- 
nacy in still holding his resolution to proceed. 

After enduring for some time their continual 
complaints and importunities. Smith addressed 
them in the following memorable words : 

" Gentlemen, if you would remember the well- 
known history of Sir Ralph Lane, and how his 
company entreated him to proceed in the dis- 
covery of Moratico, alleging they had yet a dog 
remaining, which, being boiled with sassafras 



1608.] smith's determination. 71 

leaves, would richlj feed them during their re- 
turn ; then what a shame it would be for you, 
who have been so suspicious of my timidity, to 
force me to put back, having so much provision, 
while scarcely able, as yet, to give any account 
of where we have been, and utterly ignorant of 
that which we were sent to seek. 

<' You cannot say I have not shared with you 
in the worst which is past ; and for what is to 
come, either of lodging, diet, or whatsoever, I am 
contented to receive the worst part myself. As 
for your fears that I will lose myself in these 
large unknown waters, or be swallowed up in 
some stormy gust — abandon these childish fancies. 
Worse than has already been experienced is not 
likely to happen ; and there is already as much 
danger in returning as in going forward. Regain 
therefore your old spirits, for return I will not 
— if it please God — till I have seen the Massawo- 
macs, found the Potomac, or penetrated to the 
head of this water which you imagine to be end- 
less." 

After this decided expression of his will, all 
hope of changing his determination vanished. 
He did proceed. He did discover the Potomac. 
He sailed up that noble river, and crossing the 
country by land, examined a mine, the earth of 
which, so Newport had assured them, had been 
assayed in England and pronounced to contain 
large quantities of silver. 



72 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1608. 

For seven weeks Smith continued his explora- 
tions, examining and noting every creek, har- 
bour, and inlet, both on the eastern and western 
shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Many skirmishes 
and some sharp encounters he had with the na- 
tives ; but by his coolness, sagacity, and skill, 
not one of his little company received any serious 
injury. The exhaustion of his provisions, and 
his own painful condition — he having been poi- 
soned by a sea-nettle — compelled him at length 
to relinquish the further prosecution of his voy- 
age, and return to Jamestown. 

Such however was his energy, that three days 
had scarcely elapsed, before his barge, refitted 
and manned with twelve of the same crew, was 
once more floating down the James River, for 
the purpose of completing the previous disco- 
veries. 

This second exploration of the Chesapeake 
Bay ended with the most perfect results. Smith 
not only penetrated to the head of the bay, but 
also ascended its various tributaries as far as they 
were navigable. He held conferences with the 
Massawomacs, the Susquehannas, the Patuxents, 
and the Rappahannocks, fought with such as 
were hostile, and was friendly with all who met 
him in the same spirit ; navigated the waters for 
forty-four days, sailed in that time some three 
thousand miles, and made a chart of the whole 
region, with its rivers, creeks, islands, harbours, 



1608.] CHARACTER OF SMITH. 73 

and inlets, which has been valued for its correct- 
ness down to the present time. 

And here, perhaps, is the most fitting place to 
exhibit one other bright phase in the character 
of this remarkable man. 

Bred from his youth a soldier, he was yet 
singularly free from those vices which so fre- 
quently attach themselves to such as follow the 
profession of arms. He neither drank wine, 
swore oaths, nor gambled ; but it was his daily 
custom to preface the duties of the morning by 
prayer and the singing of a psalm. This pious 
habit the keen-eyed savages soon remarked, and 
whenever afterward in their discourses to the 
whites they had occasion to speak of the Deity, 
they invariably referred to him as " the God of 
Captain Smith." 

In regard to the conduct of Smith toward the 
natives, the opinions of men will naturally differ ; 
but he who seeks to form a correct judgment 
in this matter, must weigh the acts of the young 
soldier by the standard of the times in which he 
lived, and not by the finer balance of the present 
day. 

In all nobility of spirit ; in self-abnegation 
where the wants of others conflicted with his own ; 
in manly piety, energy, and daring ; in sound- 
ness of judgment, quickness of decision in emer- 
gencies, and in the art of winning the love of all 
with whom he came in contact, — except, perhaps, 

7 



74 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1608. 

the most depraved, — he will compare worthily 
with the most popular of those who have been 
called heroes, either in ancient or in modern times. 

On the 3d of September, 1608, Smith was 
elected governor of the colony. Newport arrived 
shortly after with seventy immigrants, among 
whom were Mistress Forest and Annie Burras, 
these being the first English women that set- 
tled in the colony. The council was reorga- 
nized by the admission of new members ; and 
then, as Newport had brought with him a tinsel 
crown, a scarlet cloak, and other mock insignia 
of royalty, Smith was despatched to Powhattan 
for the purpose of bringing the latter to James- 
town, where Newport proposed to perform the 
ceremony of investiture and coronation. 

But though Powhattan was always gratified at 
receiving presents from the English, he was by 
no means inclined to place the safety of his royal 
person in their hands. He therefore answered 
haughtily. 

" If your king has sent me presents, I also am 
a king, and this is my land ; eight days I will re- 
main here to receive them. Newport is to come 
to me, not I to him, nor to your fort. I will not 
bite at such a bait." 

Accordingly, Newport, finding the emperor in- 
tractable, was compelled to go in person to We- 
rowocomoco. 

The next day was appointed for the corona- 



1608.] CORONATION OP POWHATTAN. 75 

tion. As soon as the time arrived, the presents 
were brought in. They consisted of a ewer 
and bason, a bedstead with its customary furni- 
ture, a gay scarlet cloak, and other apparel, and 
a gilded crown. 

After much ado and solicitation. King Powhat- 
tan suffered himself, though with great reluctance, 
to be inducted into his regal habiliments ; but 
neither persuasion nor argument could induce 
him to kneel for the purpose of receiving his 
crown. Though the English self-constituted mas- 
ters of ceremonies sought to explain that such 
was the approved and fashionable method in use 
among his brother monarchs in the old world, 
kneel he would not. 

The difficulty, however, was at length happily 
removed, by some of them leaning heavily on the 
emperor's shoulder, which causing him to stoop 
a little, three of the company, lifting the crown 
between them, placed it upon his head. 

And thus ended the coronation of King Pow- 
hattan, who did not forget that it was the duty 
of a monarch to bestow largesse upon any occa- 
sion which implied increase of dignity ; in token 
whereof, he graciously presented Newport with 
his cast-off mantle and old shoes ! 

The state of affairs at Jamestown, under the 
/igid supervision of Governor Smith, quickly as- 
sumed a more promising aspect. 

Buildings were erected and renovated ; the 



76 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1608. 

church repaired ; the fort altered and strength- 
ened ; a military guard organized, and trained in 
squads daily; while every Saturday, the whole 
of the colonists were exercised in arms on the 
plain by the west bulwark. 

The savages too, well knowing the character 
of the man with whom they would now have to 
deal, became all at once remarkably friendly 
and conciliating. The Princess Pocahontas also 
visited the town occasionally, with her wild fol- 
lowers, always bringing with her presents of corn, 
and game, and fruit, as substantial evidences of 
her regard. 

In assigning the various duties in the way of 
labour among the colonists, Smith spared none. 
The rustic, in his eyes, was equal to the gentle- 
man ; or, rather, he regarded the former as a 
more important member of the body politic, 
especially if he was able-bodied and an efficient 
master of his craft. Nor did the brave young 
governor spare himself. Whatever was to be 
done, he led the way, and bade others profit by 
the example. 

Thirty of them he took down the river some 
five miles below Jamestown, where he taught 
them to cut down trees and make clap boards ; 
but the axes so often blistered the delicate fingers 
of the labouring gentlemen, that almost every 
third stroke was accompanied by an oath. 

Smith's remedy for idleness was no food, and 



1606.] CURE FOR SWEARING. 77 

a very excellent remedy it proved. His recipe 
for the cure of profane swearing was far more 
whimsical, but equally successful. He had a 
regular account kept of the number of expletives 
which each man gave vent to ; and at night, for 
every separate oath, a can of cold water was 
poured down the sleeve of the offender. 

A few rigid applications of the prescribed penal- 
ty effected so complete a cure of the propensity 
to swear, that in a little while scarcely an oath 
was to be heard in a week. 

The continued influx of immigrants, notwith- 
standing the presents he had received, began to 
make Powhattan uneasy ; and knowing that the 
colonists had never yet been able to raise more 
corn than was sufficient to subsist them for a few 
weeks, he directed his people to withhold their 
usual supplies of that necessary article of food. 

This course of procedure, being persisted in, 
brought the condition of the colony down to the 
starving point. After several voyages in search 
of provisions had been made without success by 
his subordinates. Governor Smith, whom no 
persuasions could induce to starve quietly, de- 
termined to try whether he could not effect a 
better result by a journey to head-quarters, and 
an expedition was immediately organized for that 
purpose. 



7* 



78 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Smith sets out for Werowocomoco — Is visited by Powhattan 
— Smith's speech — Reply of Powhattan — Difficulties in the 
way of bartering for corn — Subtle conduct of the emperor 
— Smith and his companions surrounded by armed Indians — 
Rout of the latter — Supplies of corn obtained — Powhattan's 
treachery — Visit of Pocahontas — The project frustrated — 
Smith sails for Pamunkey — Is entertained by Opechanca- 
nough — Demands a supply of corn — Fearful situation of the 
whites — Smith takes Opechancanough prisoner — Surrender 
of his warriors — Their sudden friendship — The barges freight- 
ed with corn — Return to Jamestown. 

On the 29th of December, 1608, Governor 
Smith out on his voyage to Werowocomoco. His 
acknowledged purpose was, either to trade with 
Powhattan for corn in a fair and impartial man- 
ner ; or, if that was found impossible, to beat up 
the Indian head-quarters, and seize a supply of 
provision by force. 

The expedition consisted of the pinnace of 
twenty tons, and the little barge used in the ex- 
ploration of the Chesapeake Bay. The number 
of volunteers amounted to forty-six men. 

On the 12th of January, after having been 
warned by the friendly chief of Warraskoyack 
that the intentions of Powhattan were of the most 
sanguinary nature, Smith reached the vicinity of 
Werowocomoco ; but could not bring his vessels 
closer than within half a mile of the land, on ac- 



1609.] SMITH AND POWHATTAN. 79 

count of the ice, which stretched far out into the 
Pamunkey river, and of the oozy marshes beyond. 

This, however, did not deter the governor long. 
Breaking the thin edge of the ice so as to lay his 
vessels as near to the town as possible, he sprang 
from the bow of the barge, crossed the frozen 
space, and plunging into the mud and ooze, mid- 
dle deep, called upon his companions to follow. 
As soon as all were landed. Smith took possession 
of the nearest houses, and sent a messenger to 
Powhattan, demanding refreshments for his men. 
Smothering his resentment, the emperor imme- 
diately complied with a request the peremptory 
character of which admitted of no evasion. 

The next day he visited Smith in person. Af- 
ter stating that he had no corn for sale, and that 
he had not invited them there, he asked, with a 
gleam of his old spirit, how long the intruders 
intended to stay ? 

It happened, however, that Powhattan really 
had promised to freight the pinnace with corn, 
provided the governor would send him men to 
build a house, together with a specified number 
of guns and swords ; a grindstone, and some cop- 
per and beads. 

The men and the minor articles were de- 
spatched accordingly, but the weapons were pru- 
dently refused. 

So when Powhattan protested he had neither 
sent for mechanics or merchandise ; Smith, point- 



80 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

ing to the men themselves, who were standing 
near by, asked the emperor how it was possible 
he could be so forgetful ? 

Finding himself thus palpably convicted of an 
untruth, Powhattan burst into a hearty laugh, 
and asked to be shown their commodities. 

These were quickly displayed ; but he would 
barter for nothing but guns and swords. Copper 
was freely offered him, but he would have nothing 
to do with it ; telling them he could put a value 
upon his corn, but not upon their copper. 

Smith, perceiving the intention of the emperor 
was not to trade at all, unless he could do it in 
his own way, threw aside aside all diplomacy, and 
addressed Powhattan in his usual plain, straight- 
forward manner. <' Powhattan," said he, '^al- 
though I had many ways whereby I could have 
obtained the provisions I required, yet, believing 
in your promise to supply my wants, I neglected 
them all to satisfy your desire. To give you an 
evidence of my affection, I sent you my men to 
complete you a house, leaving my own unfinished. 
The corn your people had you have seized, for- 
bidding them to trade with us ; and now you 
think by consuming the time to make us perish 
with want, because we cannot comply with your 
strange demands. As for swords and guns, I told 
you long ago I had none to spare ; and you well 
know that those I have can keep me from want- 
ing food. Yet, steal from you, or wrong you, I 



1609.] SUBTILTY OF POWHATTAN. 81 



will not ; nor will I dissolve that friendship which 
has hitherto existed between us, unless you force 
me to do so bj bad usage." 

Having listened very attentively to this dis- 
course, Powhattan promised that both he and his 
subjects would bring into the town whatever corn 
they had to spare within two days ; and then 
turning with his grave, subtle manner toward the 
sturdy governor, he said : 

" Captain Smith, it is the doubt I yet have of 
your true reasons for coming hither, that makes 
me refrain from relieving your wants. I have 
been informed by many persons that your object 
in coming here, is not to trade, but to possess my 
country and harass my people, who, seeing you 
and your men thus armed, are afraid to bring you 
their corn. To free us from this fear, leave your 
weapons aboard, for we being all friends they 
are needless here." 

To this, however, Smith would by no means 
consent, and the day passed without either party 
yielding to the other. 

The next morning, before the savages arrived 
with their supplies from the inland towns. Smith 
managed to obtain ten quarters of corn from 
Powhattan, in exchange for a copper kettle. 
With this barter both were well contented ; but 
the emperor by no means relished trading with 
men who carried their weapons in one hand, and 
their commodities in the other. He began, there- 



82 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

fore, another long discourse, eulogizing the bless- 
ings of peace, and expressing his wish to maintain 
friendly relations with his white neighbours. He 
said pathetically, that he had seen the death of 
three generations of his people, not one of whom 
was then living but himself; that he was very 
old, and must soon die, and that he desired to 
leave the whites on good terms with his successors. 

Smith in reply, reminded Powhattan how often 
the savages had violated the promises which had 
been made in their behalf, and how kindly they 
had been treated notwithstanding. As for the 
wearing of arms, he said, that should not be con- 
strued into evil intentions, because they had re- 
peatedly shown that it was not their wish to use 
them, except in self-defence, or to punish some 
aggressive act. 

The old emperor, finding it almost impossible 
to make any impression upon the wary and un- 
compromising soldier, breathed a deep sigh, and 
said, in a tone of well-feigned reproach : 

<' Captain Smith, I never in my life used any 
chief so kindly as I have you ; and yet, from you 
I have met with the least friendly return. Cap- 
tain Newport gave me freely of every thing I de- 
sired, and received in return whatever I was 
pleased to oiFer. He would send away his guns 
at my request, and if you are disposed to show 
an equal friendship, let the men put aside their 
weapons, and I will believe you." 



1609.] smith's decision. 83 

Smith, having at this time but eighteen men 
on shore, perceiving that Powhattan was only 
trifling with him until the hordes of armed savages, 
now flocking in from all quarters, should be able 
to surround his little band, quietly requested that 
some of the savages might be allowed to break 
the ice, so that his boat could approach the shore, 
and promised on the morrow he would land his 
followers unarmed. 

To dissemble matters as long as possible, Pow- 
hattan gave permission to some of his people to 
open a passage for the boat, and while this was 
doing, having been informed that his warriors 
were ready to act, he left two or three of his wo- 
men to engage Smith in conversation, while he 
secretly left the house in which the conference 
had been held. It was immediately surrounded 
by swarms of savages, but Smith was not the man 
to take these matters quietly. Without pausing 
until they should gain confidence from his inde- 
cision, he burst out at the doorway, and after 
discharging his pistol into the crowd, began to 
lay about him with his sword. Being well sup- 
ported by his followers, the savages fled in the 
utmost confusion, falling one upon another in 
their eager efi'orts to escape. 

A short time afterward, Powhattan sent a mes- 
senger to excuse his flight, on the plea that the 
approach of the boat filled with armed men had 
alarmed him, and that the multitude of his peo- 



84 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

pie, by whom the house was beset, had been sent 
by him, not with hostile intentions, but for the 
purpose of defending the corn from being taken 
away without his having received any equivalent 
remuneration for it. 

A large quantity of corn had indeed been de- 
posited near the house in baskets, and this fact 
gave some colour to the explanation which had 
been proffered. Smith received the excuse with 
a grim smile, but when the savages officiously 
proposed to take charge of the arms of his people 
while they carried the corn to the boat, he re- 
versed the proposition by suggesting that they 
should throw down their bows and arrows, and 
load the boat with corn for him. As the sugges- 
tion of Smith, though quietly made, was doubt- 
less accompanied by a significant show of wea- 
pons on the part of his men, the savages thought 
it best to acquiesce in the new arrangement. 
Stimulated by their fears, the corn was soon taken 
on board, and Smith would have quitted the place 
at once, but the ebb having left his barges firmly 
imbedded in the ooze, he was compelled to remain 
where he was until the next high tide should float 
them. 

In the mean time, the savages seemed to have 
forgotten their fears and their enmity. They 
entertained the strangers with all manner of joy- 
ous sports and games, until it grew dark, when 
they all returned to Powhattan, who was in the 



1609.] POCAHONTAS'S WARNING. 85 

woods at some distance, busily engaged m reor- 
ganizing his forces to surprise Smith in the night. 

It is impossible to say what might have been 
the issue of this scheme, if Smith had remained 
entirely ignorant of the design ; but, fortunately, 
his former gentle preserver, the youthful Princess 
Pocahontas, threaded secretly the dark woods 
and put him upon his guard. 

She told Smith, that under pretence of pro- 
viding himself and his companions with a boun- 
tiful supply of refreshments for their evening 
meal, a number of men would be introduced, 
whose instructions were to seize the weapons of 
his men while they were at supper, and then mur- 
der them. If this stratagem was unsuccessful, 
then an attempt was to be made by a large body 
of men approaching unawares from without. She 
entreated him therefore to quit the place at 
once ; but this Smith would not do, neither would 
he take refuge on board of his boats. Thanking 
Pocahontas most warmly and gratefully for the 
warning she had given him, he pressed upon her 
a number of trinkets, such as she usually delight- 
ed in ; but she would accept of none, lest their 
being found upon her person should lead her father 
to suspect she had betrayed his plans ; a suspi- 
cion which, if confirmed in any way, might involve 
the safety of her own life. So with many tears 
she tore herself from them, and departed alone 
through the dark woods as secretly as she came. 



86 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

Within less than an hour after she had left, 
eight or ten stout savages came to the house, 
bearing huge platters of cooked venison and other 
food. Affecting to be almost suffocated with the 
smoke of the matches, which were used in those 
days for the purpose of firing off the guns, they 
importuned Smith to have them quenched. This 
modest request was of course refused by the sol- 
dier, who, suspecting that possibly the food which 
they had brought might have been tampered with, 
compelled each of the savages to partake of a 
portion of it, before he permitted his men to 
satisfy their appetites. When they had done so, 
he sent several of them back to Powhattan, to 
inform him that his intentions were known, and 
that he might come on as soon as he pleased, as 
they were fully prepared to receive him. 

This bold invitation quite frustrated the project 
of the emperor, and although a strict watch was 
kept up the whole of the night, the morning 
dawned at length without their having received 
any molestation. 

At high- water the next day the barges floated, 
and when all his followers were once more safely 
on board, Smith exchanged courtesies with the 
savages who thronged the banks to see them off, 
and dropped down the river to Pamunkey. When 
they reached the vicinity of the latter town, they 
were entertained by Opechancanough, with a 
great show of regard. After remaining there 



1609.] OPECHANCANOUGH. 87 

three days, Smith, taking with him a detachment 
of fourteen men, proceeded to the town, a quar- 
ter of a mile from the river, which they found de- 
serted by all its usual inhabitants, except a lame 
man and a boy. 

It was not long, however, before Opechanca- 
nough arrived, accompanied by a considerable 
number of armed men, but with scarcely any of 
the provisions he had promised. 

Finding himself likely to receive but a scanty 
supply, unless he took decided steps to procure 
it. Smith turned to Opechancanough, and after 
reminding him that the previous year he had 
freighted with corn the ship which had been sent 
to him, said with his usual bluntness : 

" You know my want, and as I am equally 
conscious of your plenty, I am resolved by some 
means to have a portion of it. Here are my 
commodities ; take your own choice first, and 
after you have selected such as you prefer, I will 
barter the remainder with your people." 

Upon these terms an exchange was immediate- 
ly made, the king promising the next day to 
bring down a further and a larger supply. Ac- 
cordingly, when the time came. Smith again pro- 
ceeded to the town, where he at first found only 
four or five men, each newly arrived, with a 
great basket of corn. Opechancanough made 
his appearance with some forty or fifty of his fol- 
lowers soon after, and held Smith in conversation 



88 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

until some seven hundred warriors, completely 
armed, had surrounded the house. 

Some of Smith's companions expressing a fear 
of their inability to withstand such numbers, the 
captain made light of the danger, and told them, 
at the worst, they could fight like men, and not 
die like sheep, for " by that means," said he, 
"God hath often delivered me before, and so I 
trust will now." 

When the king saw that his designs were sus- 
pected, he sought to restore confidence by order- 
ing a large present of corn to be brought and 
laid outside the door. This, however, was but a 
stratagem to draw Smith and his companions 
from the house ; for lying behind a great tree 
that was blown down, were numbers of warriors, 
with their bows bent ready to shoot, the moment 
any of the whites attempted to pass the door. 

Indignant at being encompassed about in this 
manner. Smith took his resolve at once. He 
sprang into the midst of the warriors within the 
house, and seizing Opechancanough by his scalp- 
lock, planted a pistol against his breast, and led 
him a prisoner to the door, so that the danger in 
which their king was could be seen by all his 
people. 

This energetic act disarmed the warriors at 
once. Seeing their king a prisoner, they threw 
aside their weapons, brought in corn in abun- 
dance, and strove to atone by a show of eager 



1609.] SMITH RETURNS TO JAMESTOWN. 89 

friendsliip for their previous hostility. No fur- 
ther interruption occurred ; the corn was taken 
to the barges, as at Werowocomoco, on the backs 
of the people, and when the loading was com- 
pleted, Smith set sail for Jamestown. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Return of Smith to Jamestown — Loss of Scrivener, Gosnoll, and 
others — Government of Smith — Activity of the colonists — 
Growing scarcity of food — Many settlers quartered around 
Jamestown — Insubordination — Firmness of Smith — Arrival 
of Captain Argall — The commissioners in England surren- 
der their charter — A new commission granted — Lord de la 
Warre appointed Governor-general of Virginia — Nine vessels 
sail from England for the colony — Parted in a storm — Un- 
certain fate of the flag ship — The others of the fleet arrive in 
V^irginia — Difficulties with Smith — His resolute conduct — 
Opens several new plantations — Powhattan settled — Tei-rible 
accident to Smith — His return to England — Statistics of the 
colony — Its prosperous condition. 

The return of Smith to Jamestown was has- 
tened by the tidings of an unhappy accident 
which had occurred during his absence. This 
was no other than the loss of Mr. Scrivener, 
Captain Waldo, Anthony Gosnoll, and eight 
others, by the upsetting of their boat in a storm 
on the James Hiver. 

He had no sooner reassumed the reins of 
government than the colony began to feel the 
beneficial effects of his watchfulness and energy. 



90 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 



Having succeeded in obtaining during his late 
voyage nearly five hundred bushels of corn, and 
two hundred pounds of deer suet, he considered 
an economical disposition of this supply sufficient 
to last the colonists for three months, or until 
their own harvest came round. 

His anxieties in regard to provision being thus 
put to rest, he now determined to maintain no 
idlers, but that all should labour equally for the 
common benefit. The whole of the colonists were 
therefore divided into companies of ten and fifteen 
each, separate duties allotted to each company, 
and the period of labour, six hours of each day, 
strictly enforced. The firmness with which an 
exact performance of these rules was insisted^ 
upon soon roused the old spirit of insubordina- 
tion among the gentlemen colonists, who ima- 
gined their birth and condition ought to exempt 
them from the degradation of working for a sub- 
sistence. 

But Governor Smith would admit of no excep- 
tions. He did not even shield himself, under 
cover of his office, from the performance of those 
tasks which he required of others. He demanded 
no more than that all the ablest bodied colonists 
should equal him in industry. 

When therefore he perceived a mutinous spirit 
among those who esteemed themselves as the bet- 
ter class, and that they were disposed to disobey 
the rules he had laid down, he took a short but 



1609.] USEFUL LABOURS. 91 

most effectual method of reducing them to obe- 
dience. Having entire control of the public 
stores, from which each colonist received his ra- 
tions daily, Smith decreed that those who did not 
work should not eat ; and hunger being a forcible 
stimulant to industry, after a few of the malcon- 
tents had tested to their satisfaction the opera- 
tion of the law, they found it far pleas anter to 
submit than to resist. 

During the three months thus busily employ ed, 
the colonists got ready for the ships, whose arri- 
val was expected, large quantities of pitch, tar, 
pot-ashes ; and succeeded in manufacturing a 
small supply of glass, most probably for their 
own use. They also constructed nets and wears 
for fishing ; built some twenty houses ; thatched 
the church with reeds from the adjoining marsh ; 
sank a well in the fort ; and built a block-house 
on the point of the peninsula, for the purpose of 
overawing the savages. In addition to these la- 
bours, thirty acres of land were broken up and 
planted with corn, and two other block-houses, 
easy of defence, erected in commanding situa- 
tions. 

Owing to the vast increase of rats in the colo- 
ny, the corn, which had been stored away in 
casks, was found upon examination to have been 
so seriously depredated upon, that the supply was 
exhausted much earlier than was expected, and 
as the season for gathering their own corn had 



92 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

not yet arrived, several detachments of the colo- 
nists were sent from Jamestown, and quartered 
in other places, for the better convenience of ob- 
taining food. 

Under any other governor than Smith, this 
policy might have been considered injudicious, as 
it weakened his effective force, and exposed his 
parties to be beaten in detail by the savages. 
But so great was the terror with which he had 
inspired the Indians, so prompt was he to repress 
the least show of hostilities, and so sleeplessly 
indefatigable was he in all he undertook, that the 
savages well knowing a bloody retaliation would 
follow any overt act on their part, were con- 
strained to continue peaceful even when the colo- 
nists were most open to their attacks. 

But while he thus held the savages in check 
by the mere terror of his name, Smith had a far 
more difficult task in preserving subordination 
among his own people. While food was plentiful 
he succeeded in repressing disorders ; but no 
sooner did the supplies begin to fail, than idlers 
and malcontents became so abundant, that he was 
compelled to resort to severer measures than any 
he had yet ventured upon. A large number of 
the colonists, after importuning him unsuccess- 
fully to barter every article they possessed, even 
their weapons, for a few baskets of corn yet re- 
maining among the Indians, had determined 
among themselves to force him to comply with 



1609.] RIGOROUS REGULATIONS. 93 

their wishes, by refusing to do any thing toward 
providing for their own daily wants. 

Smith was the last man in the world whom they 
could have hoped to drive into any act to which 
his judgment was opposed, and they soon found 
him such. 

He called a meeting of the people, and address- 
ing himself particularly to the disaffected, he 
pointed out what he had already done for the 
good of the colony, and how it had more than 
once been preserved through his exertions. Re- 
ferring to their refusal to hunt, or fish, or even 
to gather wild fruits, he said : 

" I will take such measures as shall compel you 
to provide for yourselves of such food as is to be 
obtained. The sick shall be exemp*t from service, 
and shall share equally with us all ; but he who, 
being well, does not bring in as much provision 
every day as I do, shall be banished from the fort 
on the morrow, and set beyond the river, until 
such time as he is willing to fulfil this regulation, 
or starve." 

This order many considered as unnecessarily 
harsh, but the obedience it demanded was ren- 
dered nevertheless ; and so, amid plottings and 
murmurings, the affairs of the colony moved jar- 
ringly on until the arrival of Captain Argall, with 
a ship well furnished with wine and provision. 

The letters brought by Argall contained much 
censure of Smith, for the decided manner in 



94 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

which he had dealt with the savages, and 
communicated at the same time the startling 
intelligence of the surrender of the Virginia 
patent into the hands of King James, and the 
issue of a new commission, under which Lord 
Delaware was appointed governor-general of Vir- 
ginia ; Sir Thomas Gates, his lieutenant ; Sir 
Thomas Dale, high-marshal ; Sir Ferdinand 
Wainman, general of the horse ; Captain New- 
port, vice-admiral, together with various other 
officers, sufficient in number to have governed an 
established kingdom, rather than the few mise- 
rable, half-starved colonists, who had only been 
kept together by the incessant care of Captain 
Smith. 

One good efcct, however, was promised by the 
surrender of the old charter. Under the new 
organization, the commissioners speedily raised 
such large sums of money as enabled them to 
despatch nine ships and five hundred immigrants 
to Jamestown. The command of this fleet was 
given to Newport. Sir Thomas Gates and Sir 
George Somers accompanied the latter, armed 
with power to cancel the old commissions, and 
assume authority in the colony until the arrival 
of Lord Delaware. 

These three officers sailed together from Eng- 
land, in May, 1609, in the flag-ship of the vice- 
admiral, the Sea- Venture ; but being separated 
from the rest of the fleet in a severe storm, were 



1609.] smith's superior abilities. 95 

for some time supposed to be lost. The other 
ships arrived in due season, and the immigrants 
thej contained were disembarked. Among those 
who returned to the colony at this time, to the 
great indignation of Smith, were his old enemies 
RatclifFe, Martin, and Archer. 

A landing had no sooner been effected than the 
sturdy governor found his authority disputed. 
As the fate of the commissioners was uncertain, 
Smith resolved to retain his office until its term 
expired, unless previously superseded by the arri- 
val of the commissioners, or by fresh orders from 
England. In carrying out this determination, 
he had occasion for the exercise of all that deci- 
sion of character for which he was so remarkable. 
Surrounded by an unruly multitude, ignorant of 
his superior qualities, and instigated by all those 
who hated the salutary laws he had so rigidly 
enforced, he was subjected to a constant succes- 
sion of conspiracies, by which his life was placed 
in continual danger. 

Resolutely bent on maintaining his authority 
until it could be legally transferred into proper 
hands. Smith seized the chief conspirators, and 
imprisoned them in the fort. Those of less 
note he sent away from Jamestown to garrison 
some of the outposts, where their enmity could 
be tempered by a due regard for their personal 
safety. By this means, he succeeded in repress- 
ing that condition of unbridled license with which 



96 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

the colony was threatened, and in preserving a 
fair share of decorum and regularity. 

No sooner, however, was his year of office ex- 
pired, than he surrendered his authority to Cap- 
tain Martin ; .but the latter was so conscious of 
his own inefficiency, that, after retaining the go- 
vernorship for three hours, he resigned it again 
into the hands of Smith. 

The large influx of colonists enabling Smith to 
open plantations at a distance from the city, he 
sent Captain West with one hundred and twenty 
men to build a fort near the falls of James River, 
and cultivate the land adjacent. Finding, on a 
subsequent personal inspection, that the situation 
upon which the fort had been erected was a dis- 
advantageous one, in consequence of being subject 
to overflow from the river, the governor treated 
with the emperor for his ancient seat of Powhat- , 
tan. This was a fine healthy location, the town 
being strongly fortified with pickets, the houses 
in good repair, with two hundred acres of cleared 
land adjoining. 

When the conditions of sale were agreed upon, 
another and most unexpected difficulty arose. 
West's people, being mostly new-comers, and not 
inclined either to acknowledge the authority of 
Smith, or to submit to his advice, determined 
to remain at their new settlement. Though the 
governor had but five men with him, he attempt- 
ed to force the refractory settlers to obey his 



1609.] TUKBULENT COLONISTS. 97 

■wishes, but was beaten off. Capturing the boat 
containing all their provision, he attached it to 
his own barge, and stood off from the place, in- 
tending to starve them into submission. After 
nine days spent in a vain attempt to bring them 
to a sense of their duty, during which time the 
savages came daily with complaints of their dis- 
orderly conduct, Smith set sail. 

He had scarcely departed, before the exaspe- 
rated Indians, after attacking and killing some 
of the stragglers, assaulted the fort. Smith, 
whose vessel had at this time grounded upon a 
bar about a mile and a half below, immediately 
put back ; but the Indians had already fled with 
their booty. The garrison, now thoroughly 
alarmed, submitted themselves unconditionally to 
the mercy of the governor. Taking with him, as 
prisoners, six or seven of the ringleaders, he con- 
veyed the remainder to Powhattan, and after ap- 
peasing the Indians, and appointing new officers 
to command the garrison, was about to take his 
departure, when Captain West arrived. At the 
earnest intercession of the latter. Smith released 
his prisoners, and delivered up the ammunition 
and provision he had previously captured. No 
sooner was this done than the men grew as tur- 
bulent as before. Conscious of his inability to 
cope with such numbers, Smith left the place in 

disgust, and set out for Jamestown. 

9 



98 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1609. 

It was during this return voyage that the sad 
accident occurred which deprived Virginia of the 
future services of him who is most emphatically 
entitled to the honour of being styled the founder 
of the colony. 

While sleeping in the boat, the powder-bag he 
constantly carried upon his person was accident- 
ally set on fire by one of the crew. The explo- 
sion tore away some nine or ten inches of flesh 
from his body, and the burning of his garments 
occasioned such exquisite torment, that he leaped 
in his agony into the river, where he came near 
drowning before he was rescued. In this painful 
condition he reached Jamestown. 

There being no surgeon in the colony, Smith 
made arrangements for the proper defence of the 
settlement during his absence, and after deputing 
his authority to Captain George Percy, took pas- 
sage for England on board one of the ships then 
lying in the harbour. 

When he was compelled, by reason of his pain- 
ful wound, to cross the ocean for medical advice, 
the prosperity of the colony was daily increasing. 
It contained nearly five hundred inhabitants, had 
ten weeks' provision in the public store, was pos- 
sessed of an abundance of arms and ammunition, 
implements of all kinds, and a supply of clothing 
amply sufficient for the wants of the settlers. 
The live stock of the colony at this period con- 
sisted of six brood mares and a horse, some six 



1609.] CHARACTER OF THE IMMIGRANTS. 99 

hundred swme, an equal number of fowls, and a 
few goats and sheep. 

Jamestown, which contained some fifty or sixty 
houses, Smith had taken especial pains to fortify 
in the strongest manner, and had also caused to 
be opened, at various distances from the town, 
above and below, some five or six plantations, on 
each of which a strong block-house had been erect- 
ed, for the protection of such as were engaged in 
agricultural pursuits in the vicinity. 

When we consider the class of persons of which 
the colony of Virginia was mainly composed, it 
is still more astonishing that so much should have 
been efi'ected. There were only one good and 
three indiff"erent carpenters among the whole of 
the immigrants ; and but two blacksmiths. Those 
who came under the denomination of labourers 
were merely serving-men brought over by various 
adventurers to attend upon them personally, or 
such idle roisterers as had never before performed 
a day's work in their life. All the rest were poor 
gentlemen, decayed tradesmen, libertines, and 
the like, whom neither the fear of God, nor the 
law, nor shame, nor the displeasure of their 
friends, could rule at home. It was a sorrowful 
day for Virginia, when the disabled condition of 
the only man fitted by nature and education to 
control this mixed and unruly body of settlers, 
constrained him to take his departure from the 
shores of the new world. 



100 HISTORY OF VIRaiNIA. [1609. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Captain George Percy — His reasons for remaining in the colony 
— His ill-health — Factious spirit of the people — Indian hos- 
tilities — Massacre of Ratcliffe and his men — West and thirty 
others turn pirates — Miserable condition of the colonists — 
Arrival of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers — The 
colony ^ deserted — Arrival of Lord Delaware — His judicious 
measures — The colony begins to flourish — Delaware returns 
to England — Disappointment of the London company — Sir 
Thomas Dale sent to Virginia — His arrival — Proclaims 
martial law — Sir Thomas Gates arrives at Jamestown — As- 
sumes the government of the colony — A plantation opened 
at Henrico — Private property recognised in the colony — 
Beneficial results arising therefrom — New Bermudas settled 
— The third charter of the London company — Change in the 
constitution — Money allowed to be raised by lottery for the 
benefit of the colony. 

When Captain George Percy, in 1609, con- 
sented, at the instance of Smith, to accept the 
office which the latter was compelled to resign, 
it was from an earnest desire to serve the colony 
to the best of his ability. He had previously 
intended to seek the restoration of his own fail- 
ing health by a voyage to England; but well 
knowing that so soon as Smith had taken his 
departure, the comparatively small number of 
industrious and well-disposed settlers would fall 
a prey to those reckless and unprincipled adven- 
turers who were already feared by their own 
countrymen, and hated by the savages, he con- 
cluded to remain and endeavour to preserve 



1609.] FACTIOUSNESS. 101 

something like order, until the officers duly ap- 
pointed should arrive from England. 

Increasing ill-health, however, prevented him 
from exercising his authority effectively, and the 
condition of the colony soon became deplorable. 
The community was broken up into numerous 
factions ; a dozen vile and worthless leaders 
claimed the supremacy, while their deluded fol- 
lowers were encouraged to live in the most 
shameless and abandoned manner. 

The Indians who had shown themselves friend- 
ly were grossly maltreated. Profiting by the 
absence of Smith, they broke out into open war. 
They attacked and destroyed the plantations of 
Martin and West, and killed nearly one-half of 
their men ; the remainder fled to Jamestown. 
Thirty men, sent out under Ratcliffe to trade 
with Powhattan, were all surprised and slain, 
with the exception of two, whose lives were pre- 
served by the Princess Pocahontas. West, who 
with a like number had been appointed to a 
similar duty, deserted with his crew, and com- 
menced a career of piracy. The supply of pro- 
visions was soon consumed. The hogs, goats, 
sheep, horses, were next devoured ; and then 
every article that could be traded away to the 
Indians, even to the armour and weapons of de- 
fence, was exchanged for food. When these 
failed, they prolonged a miserable existence upon 
berries and roots. Day by day they died, either 

9* 



102 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1610. 

by the weapons of the savages or from sheer 
starvation. Within six months from the depart- 
ure of Smith, only sixty men survived. Those 
remaining could not have supported life for ten 
days longer, when they were miraculously pre- 
served from the fate of their companions. 

On the 24th of May, 1610, Sir Thomas Gates 
and Sir George Sommers arrived from the Ber- 
mudas with one hundred and sixty men. Parted 
from the rest of the ships by a storm at sea, they 
had been driven, water-logged, upon those rocky 
islands, and from the wreck of their vessels had 
constructed two small barks to bear them to 
Virginia. 

They expected to meet a prosperous colony, 
and found nothing but famine and a mere hand- 
ful of gaunt and haggard men. Utterly dis- 
mayed at the prospect before them, they yielded 
to the general wish, and set sail for Newfound- 
land, hoping to obtain food for the company 
among the fishing vessels which frequented that 
coast. 

On the 7th of June, they abandoned the scene 
of so much misery ; and it was with difficulty the 
colonists could be persuaded from setting fire to 
the town. But it was not the will of Heaven 
that so fine a country should be suffered to re- 
turn to its original wildness. 

The next morning, when near the mouth of 
the river, they fell in with the longboat of Lord 



1610.] COLONISTS RE-ESTABLISHED. 103 

Delaware, who had arrived on the coast with 
three ships well furnished with all needful sup- 
plies. With great difficulty the fugitives were 
prevailed upon to return, and the same night 
they again landed at Jamestown. 

The following day, the 10th of June, 1610,^ 
while the impression of their unexpected deliver- 
ance rendered them yet profoundly grateful, the 
colonists, preceded by Lord Delaware and the 
officers who had accompanied him, entered the 
little church which Smith had newly thatched, 
and within the walls of that rude but sacred 
edifice, supplicated forgiveness for past errors, 
and in all humility compared their condition to 
that of the children of Israel, whom the arm of 
the Lord of hosts conducted through the Red 
Sea and the wilderness, before he suffered them 
to possess, in prosperous tranquillity, the fertile 
land of Canaan. 

After the sermon was over. Lord Delaware in- 
stituted an inquiry into the causes of the late 
disasters. Finding them to have proceeded from 
the insubordination of the colonists themselves, 
he reproached them with firm seriousness for the 
evils they had wrought, and entreated them to 
amend past follies. 

His commission having been read, he told 
them he was resolved to exercise his authority, 
mildly and paternally if possible ; but that if he 
was compelled to proceed rigidly against the re- 



104 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1610. 

fractory, he should not hesitate to enforce sub- 
mission with the sword. 

Regulations were soon after proclaimed for the 
government of the colonists ; officers were ap- 
pointed, and each man allotted his particular 
duty. The effect of this was gratifying in the 
extreme. Six hours of each day were set apart 
for labour, the rest might be appropriated to 
pastime. Nor were the offices of religion forgot- 
ten. Before and after labour, all entered the 
little church, the approach to which was kept 
prettily adorned with native wild-flowers, and 
joined in brief devotional exercises, from which 
none were excused, unless unable to attend from 
sickness, or some other justifying cause. 

Under the new administration no idlers were 
suffered. Even the gentlemen had duties assigned 
to them proportioned to their ability. The dwell- 
ings were repaired and improved ; covered above 
with strong boards, and matted round with In- 
dian mats. The forts were garrisoned, and savage 
hostilities successfully restrained. But while the 
colony under the judicious care of the new go- 
vernor was daily increasing in prosperity, the 
health of Lord Delaware became so seriously im- 
paired as to compel him to return to England. 
Sir Thomas Gates having previously left Virginia 
for the mother country, and Sir George Som- 
mers being absent on a voyage to the Bermudas, 
the government was again intrusted to Captain 



1611.] SIR THOMAS DALE. 105 

Percy. At the time Lord Delaware left the 
colony, it consisted of two hundred men, and was 
supplied with provisions for ten months. His 
unexpected arrival in England was a source of 
great mortification to the London Company, who 
had already debated for some time, and with 
great anxiety, the propriety of sustaining any 
longer a colony whose reverses had been so many, 
and the returns from which had been so meager. 

The serious representation of Sir Thomas 
Gates, of the benefits which would ultimately ac- 
crue from a proper support of the colony, in- 
duced them to persevere in their endeavours to 
sustain it ; and before Lord Delaware reached 
England, Sir Thomas Dale had been despatched 
to Virginia with three ships, freighted with im- 
migrants and supplies. 

He arrived safely at Jamestown on the 10th 
of May, 1611, and found the colonists fast re- 
lapsing into their old habits of improvidence. 
They had neglected even to plant corn, relying 
upon the public store for supplies. Though the 
season was already advanced. Dale, on assuming 
the government, at once directed that corn should 
be planted, and under his vigorous supervision a 
tolerable crop was secured. 

As if conscious of the inefliciency with which 
the colony had been governed, the authority of 
Sir Thomas Dale had been enlarged by the Lon- 
don Company. Martial law was established; 



106 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1611. 

crime was punished in a summary manner, and 
the duties of religion enforced by military rules. 

Perhaps this severe and arbitrary system was, 
after all, the best calculated to maintain order in 
the colony. Indulgence and a weak yielding 
to the passions of the people had brought them 
more than once to the very brink of destruction ; 
while under established rules, rigidly enforced, 
they had always managed to prosper. 

Sir Thomas Dale, a worthy and experienced 
soldier in the Low Countries, while he resolutely 
repressed disorder, by no means exceeded the 
limits of his authority. His brief adminis- 
tration was attended with the happiest results. 
His letters to England, while confessing the 
smallness of the colony, expressed hopes which 
cheered the patrons of the enterprise, and in- 
duced them to follow up their late liberality by 
increased exertions. Sir Thomas Gates was de- 
spatched from London with six ships and three 
hundred men, and arrived at Jamestown on the 
2d of August, 1611. This new supply was so 
unexpected, that at first the colonists mistook the 
vessels for a hostile fleet. 

Gates now assumed the government, to the 
great joy of the colonists, who now numbered 
seven hundred men. Fully appreciating the dif- 
ficulties overcome by his predecessor, he approved 
all his acts, and assented to a design which Dale 
had already formed. 



1611.] SIR THOMAS GATES. 107 

This was no other than to open a large plan- 
ta,tion higher up the river. To further the ob- 
ject, Sir Thomas Gates furnished his friend with 
three hundred and fifty men, or one-half of the 
whole number of colonists. They were a select- 
ed company. Late in September, Dale, having 
already chosen a site for his new settlement, pro- 
tected it with palisades, and called the place 
Henrico, in honour of Prince Henry, the eldest 
son of James I. 

The next work he did was to build at each 
corner of the town a high commanding block- 
house ; then he erected a church and storehouses, 
and when these were finished, he constructed ex- 
cellent dwellings for himself and his men. 

This town was situated upon a neck of land, 
surrounded on three sides by the river, and on 
the fourth well palisadoed. It had three streets 
of well-framed houses, a handsome church, and 
the foundation of another, to be constructed in a 
more substantial manner of brick, besides store- 
houses, block-houses, and similar structures. 
Along the verge of the river, at stated distances, 
were five other strongly-built houses, from which 
a continual watch was kept for the security of 
the town. 

One of the immediate benefits arising from the 
administration of Gates was the recognition of 
private property. Hitherto all had laboured 
alike for the common good, and were clothed 



108 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1611. 

and fed from the public store. Having no stimu- 
lus for exertion, and the idle or sluggish re- 
ceiving the same allotment of apparel and provi- 
sion as the laborious and the energetic, men 
grew disheartened at a distribution which neither 
recognised merit nor rewarded industry. 

So discouraging was this state of things, that 
frequently, in the best times, the labour of thirty 
men did not accomplish more than was done, 
under a different system, by three. It was the 
great merit of Gates that he saw at once where 
the evil lay, and applied the appropriate remedy. 
A few acres of land were given to each man 
for his orchard and garden, to cultivate as he 
thought proper, and to apply the proceeds to his 
own use, after paying a small portion of his pro- 
duce to the general store, as a provision against 
contingencies. The consequences of this wise 
liberality were in the highest degree satisfac- 
tory ; and henceforth every encouragement was 
afibrded to individual enterprise in the acquisi- 
tion of wealth. The rights of the Indians, how- 
ever, were less regarded. In December, 1611, 
Sir Thomas Dale captured the town of Appa- 
mattuck, and driving off the savages, took pos- 
session of their houses and corn. Einding the 
place commodiously situated, and within an easy 
distance of Henrico, he immediately appropriated 
his conquest to the uses of a new settlement, 
which he called New Bermudas. 



1611.] THE LONDON COMPANY. 109 

Under the same imperious patent, he laid out 
and annexed many miles of champaign and wood- 
land, dividing the lands into several hundreds 
or districts, and building a number of houses 
along the frontier for the better security of the 
newly-acquired territory. 

While Virginia was thus gradually extending 
her habitable limits, and enjoying a period of 
peace and prosperity, a new charter was granted 
by James to the London Company, by which all 
the former privileges and immunities were con- 
firmed, and the period of exemption from duties 
extended. 

By the new charter a great change was made 
in the constitution of the company. The sole 
power of ordering the affairs of the company 
had hitherto resided in a council, named in the 
charter, but whose vacancies were supplied by 
the majority of the corporation. This power 
was now taken from the hands of the council, and 
given to the stockholders, by whom the inferior 
transactions of the company might be discussed 
at weekly meetings, reserving the more import- 
ant questions of government, commerce, and ter- 
ritory, for the four great and general courts, at 
which all officers were to be elected, and all laws 
established. This great change aifected only the 
corporation, the political rights of the colonists 
remaining unimproved. 

Another and more doubtful privilege was also 

10 



110 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1612. 

given by the new charter : it was that of raising 
money by lotteries for the benefit of the colony. 
These lotteries, after being tolerated for a few 
years, were found productive of so many evils, 
that upon the complaint of the Commons they 
were suspended by an order of council. In the 
mean while they had produced to the company 
nearly thirty thousand pounds. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Administration of Sir Thomas Gates — Cautious forbearance of 
Powhattan — Treachery of Japazaws — Capture of Pocahon- 
tas — She is taken to Jamestown — A ransom demanded for 
her release — Powhattan sends back men and muskets — Sir 
Thomas Dale sent to enforce the remainder of the ransom — ■ 
Reaches Werowocomoco — Is assaulted — Defeats the savages 
and burns the town — Parleys with the Indians — Returns to 
Jamestown — John Rolfe instructs Pocahontas in the Chris- 
tian faith — She is baptized' — Marriage of Pocahontas to Rolfe 
— Satisfaction of Powhattan — Its beneficial consequences — 
Dale treats with Powhattan for another daughter — His re- 
fusal — Rolfe and his wife sail for England — Pocahontas 
honourably received — 'Her death at Gravesend. 

The administration of Sir Thomas Gates was 
eminently judicious. The condition of the colo- 
nists was greatly ameliorated and improved, a 
spirit of industry was fostered, and the savages 
efi'ectually restrained. 

Powhattan was cautious and forbearing, re- 
signing himself to the increase of the colonists, 
as to an evil which it was now too late to remedy. 



1612.] CAPTURE OF POCAHONTAS. Ill 

An event at length occurred which threatened at 
first to involve the country in a sanguinary war. 
Its romantic termination fortunately led to a 
firmer and more lasting peace. 

In 1612, Captain Argall was sent to the Po- 
tomac to purchase corn : while he remained in 
that river, he learned from Japazaws, an old 
chief, and a tried friend to the English, that the 
Princess Tocahontas was secreted in the neigh- 
bourhood. Singular enough, the daughter of 
Powhattan had never entered Jamestown from 
the day Smith left it ; but had resided for some 
time on the shores of the Potomac, in the family 
of Japazaws. A scheme was now entered upon 
by Japazaws to betray her to the English, and 
Argall, well knowing the value of the prize, 
bribed the treacherous chief to entice her on 
board his vessel. This was eifected by a cun- 
ning stratagem. The wife of Japazaws pretend- 
ed to be exceedingly anxious to see one of the 
big canoes of the white people, while the old 
chief expressed himself vehemently in opposition 
to her going alone. The wife redoubled her en- 
treaties, and Japazaws, as if losing all patience, 
threatened to chastise her unless she ceased her 
importunities. This harsh conduct producing a 
flood of tears, Japazaws pretended to relent, and 
consented that his wife should have her curiosity 
satisfied, provided the Princess Pocahontas would 
agree to accompany her. Little suspecting the 



112 HISTORY OP VIRGINIA. [1612. 

snare which had been laid for her, the kind- 
hearted maiden consented. The members of 
the little party were courteously received in the 
cabin by Argall, and feasted with the best he 
could provide ; Japazaws treading occasionally 
on the captain's foot to remind him that he had 
fulfilled his compact. When the hour arrived 
for their departure, Argall told Pocahontas she 
must return with him to Jamestown ; whereupon 
Japasaws and his wife, with loud cries and la- 
mentations, bewailed the manner in whicli their 
young charge had been taken prisoner. Poca- 
hontas, also, at first, fell to weeping ; but grew 
composed when she learned that the object of 
her detention was to hasten a treaty of peace be- 
tween the colonists and her father. A copper- 
kettle and a few beads pacified Japazaws and his 
companion, both of whom left the vessel rejoicing 
that Pocahontas still believed them to be among 
her best and most devoted friends. 

Pocahontas was treated with the utmost kind- 
ness and attention at Jamestown, and soon be- 
came reconciled to her captivity. In the mean 
while, messengers were sent to Powhattan, demand- 
ing a ransom. The conditions insisted upon were, 
that the emperor should return all the prisoners 
he had captured, and all the swords, guns, and 
implements which had been stolen at different 
times by his people. Powhattan loved his daugh- 
ter dearly, but he was desirous of retaining both 



1612.] WAR WITH POWHATTAN. 113 

his prisoners and his spoils. The prisoners 
were useful to him as mechanics, and the spoils 
gratified his pride. 

Nature, however, at length prevailed. After 
a silence of three months, he sent back seven of 
his prisoners, and the same number of unservice- 
able muskets. He also sent word, that if his 
daughter was released, he would atone satis- 
factorily for all the injuries which had been done 
to the colony, and remain for ever after a firm 
friend. 

The council at Jamestown quietly accepted the 
prisoners and old muskets as part payment ; but 
kept possession of his daughter until the remain- 
der of the arms and implements which had been 
stolen were returned. 

Powhattan was indignant. Discovering that 
they were not likely to make terms with him by 
diplomacy, the council resolved to resort to arms. 
Accordingly Sir Thomas Dale, having with him 
the Princess Pocahontas, and further accompa- 
nied by one hundred and fifty men well armed 
and equipped, set sail for Werowocomoco. When 
Dale reached the town, he was hailed from the 
shore, and the reason of his presence demanded. 
His reply was, that he had come to receive the 
ransom for the Princess Pocahontas, or to take 
it by force. He immediately received a spirited 
answer. They told him, if he chose to fight he 
was welcome to do so, as they were perfectly pre-- 

10* 



114 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1612. 

pared for him ; but if he valued his own life, or 
the lives of his men, they would advise him to 
retire, or they would use him as they had done 
Captain RatclifFe. 

Dale said he would have a better answer, and 
the reply was a flight of arrows. 

But savage spirit, though supported by num- 
bers, was no match for armed and disciplined 
m-en. The forces of Powhattan were speedily 
routed, and the town set on fire. 

The next day. Dale proceeded higher up the 
river. He was again hailed by the Indians, and 
asked why he had attacked them and destroyed 
their town? "Why did you shoot at us?" was 
his reply. They said it was done by some strag- 
gling savages, and without their consent ; that 
they did not intend to provoke hostilities, de- 
siring rather to be friends. Dale responded in 
an equally pacific strain, and then sending mes- 
sengers to Powhattan, proceeded further up the 
river. Here, at one of the royal houses, he en- 
countered four hundred men, who desired him 
and his company to come ashore ; but at the 
same time demanded a truce until they could 
send to Powhattan to know his pleasure. It was 
granted until the next day at noon. 

When this short armistice had been agreed 
upon, the two brothers of Pocahontas presented 
themselves and requested an interview with their 
sister. When they found she was well in health 



1612.] CONVERSION OF POCAHONTAS. 115 

and in excellent spirits, they were exceedingly 
rejoiced, and promised to use their best endea- 
vours to persuade her father to redeem her and 
to become the firm friend of the colonists. With 
this promise Dale was obliged to be content. 
Powhattan resolutely refused to see the messen- 
gers which had been sent to treat with him, and 
the period of corn-planting approaching. Dale 
returned with Pocahontas to Jamestown and dis- 
banded his men. 

But the friendship of the aged Emperor Pow- 
hattan, which could neither be purchased by gifts 
nor influenced by threats, was at length to be 
acquired in a simple and a far more honourable 
manner. 

John Rolfe, a young gentleman whose family 
connections were highly respectable, conceived 
the design of instructing Pocahontas in the doc- 
trines of the Christian faith. He found the prin- 
cess both quick and docile ; and the labour for the 
conversion of the unregenerated maiden daily be- 
came less a task of duty than of love. Nor was 
the princess herself insensible to the endearing 
kindness of her amiable and enthusiastic instruc- 
tor. She soon acquired a partial knowledge of the 
English tongue, and as her perceptions became 
clearer, the pure morality of the Christian religion 
won her willingly to embrace its doctrines. In the 
little rudely-constructed church at Jamestown, 
before the font, which was hewn out of the trunk 



116 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1613. 

of a tree, hollowed into the shape of a canoe, the 
Princess Pocahontas openly renounced her coun- 
try's idolatry, professed the faith of Jesus Christ, 
and was baptized. 

In April, 1613, with the full approbation of 
her father, she was married to John Kolfe. Pow- 
hattan not only authorized Sir Thomas Dale to 
give the bride away, but sent her uncle Opachisco 
and two of her brothers to be present at the cere- 
mony. 

The marriage between the Princess Pocahontas 
— now called the Lady Rebecca — and John Rolfe, 
won, not only the friendship of Powhattan and the 
various tribes over whom he exercised control, but 
induced the Chickahominies also to send mes- 
sengers with presents to Sir Thomas Dale, ex- 
cusing all former injuries, and desiring to form a 
treaty of alliance with him as new Englishmen, 
who were henceforth willing to become the sub- 
jects and tributaries of King James. 

With a view to strengthen, to a still greater 
degree, the bonds of amity between the colonists 
and their barbarian neighbours. Sir Thomas Dale 
made a proposition to Powhattan for another of 
his daughters. 

Master Ralph Hamor, his messenger, left 
Bermudas in the morning, and reached the royal 
residence of Powhattan the next evening. The 
aged king received his visitor but coldly ; but to 
Thomas Savage, the interpreter, whom he knew 



1614.] dale's bequest of powhattan. 117 

well, he said : " My child, I gave you leave to visit 
your friends, and this is the first time I have seen 
you these four years past." Turning to Hamor, 
he asked him for the chain of pearl which he had 
given to Sir Thomas Dale as a token to pass be- 
tween them whenever an approved messenger 
should be sent. Hamor, having neglected to 
bring it with him, plausibly denied the necessity 
of it at all, since he did not come alone, having 
been attended in his journey by two of Powhat- 
tan's own people. The emperor expressed him- 
self satisfied with the explanation, and after pre- 
senting the messenger a pipe of tobacco, con- 
tinued the conversation by asking how his bro- 
ther Sir Thomas Dale did, and his daughter and 
unknown son ; and how they lived, loved, and 
liked ? Hamor told him that Sir Thomas Dale 
was well, and his daughter, the Lady Rebecca 
Rolfe, so well contented, she would not live with 
him again. Powhattan laughed, and then asked 
Hamor the cause of his coming. The latter re- 
plied that the message with which he was in- 
trusted was a private one, and could be delivered 
to himself only. The room was immediately 
cleared of all the inmates except Powhattan and 
his two wives, and then the emperor bade Hamor 
speak on. 

Speaking through the medium of Savage, his 
interpreter, Hamor told Powhattan that Sir 
Thomas Dale had sent him a present of two 



118 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1614. 



pieces of copper, five strings of white and blue 
beads, five wooden combs, ten fish-hooks, and a 
couple of knives ; and that when the emperor 
chose to send for it, he would also give him a 
grindstone. Thus far Powhattan expressed him- 
self well pleased ; but when Hamor told the 
emperor that his brother Dale, hearing of the 
fame of his youngest daughter, desired that she 
might be sent to the colony in charge of his 
messenger, both for a testimony of his love, and 
for the pleasure of her sister, Powhattan replied 
gravely : 

" I gladly except from Sir Thomas Dale his 
salutations of love and peace, which while I live 
I will exactly keep. I also thank him for his 
presents, though they are fewer than has been 
customary ; but for my daughter, I have already 
disposed of her hand, within a few days past, to 
a great Werowance, for two bushels of Roanoke." 

Hamor instantly replied, that he knew very 
well it would not be difficult to revoke this 
arrangement, by returning the Roanoke, espe- 
cially as the child was at that time but twelve 
years of age. He said it would have the further 
effect of gratifying Sir Thomas Dale, who would 
gladly bestow in return for the compliment, a 
present in beads, copper, hatchets, and other 
articles, worth at least three times as much as 
the Roanoke. The answer of Powhattan was as 
fatherly as it was direct and to the purpose. 



1616.] POWHATTAN REFUSES DALE. 119 

" I love my daughter as my life, and though 
I have many children, I delight in none of them 
as much as I do in her, whom if I do not often 
behold I cannot possibly live. If she lived with 
you I should never be able to see her again, as 
I have resolved, upon no consideration, to place 
myself in your hands, or to come in person among 
you. Tell my brother, Sir Thomas Dale, that I 
desire no better assurance of his friendship than 
the promise he has made. One of my daughters 
is already a pledge for my good faith, which, so 
long as she lives, shall be sufficient. When she 
dies he shall have another. I do not think it the 
part of a brother to desire to bereave me of two 
daughters at once. Tell Sir Thomas Dale this. 
If he had no pledge whatever from me, he need 
fear no injury, either from myself or my people. 
There have been too many of his men and mine 
slain already, and with my consent there shall be 
no more ; for I am old, and would gladly end my 
days in peace. If you offer me injury, my coun- 
try is large enough for me to go from you. This 
I hope will satisfy my brother ; and as you are 
weary, and I am sleepy, we will now end." 

The Lady Rebecca Rolfe remained in the 
colony until 1616, when, in company with her 
husband and Sir Thomas Dale, she sailed for 
England. Through the unwearied diligence of 
John Rolfe, assisted by that meek and self-de- 
nying apostle of the wilderness, Alexander Whita- 



120 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1617. 

ker, she had been taught to speak the English 
tongue, and to understand, though perhaps dimly, 
the more essential truths of Christianity. Happy 
in the enthusiastic love of her husband, she never 
expressed any desire to return to her father, and 
in the society of those of her own nation she no 
longer took any delight. When she left the 
shores of Virginia, her fame had already pre- 
ceded her. Her presence was no sooner known 
in England, than all classes vied with each other 
in doing honour to the young wife and mother. 
On her way to London, many persons of rank and 
quality entertained her in a hospitable manner. 
The London Company took upon themselves the 
expenses of herself and child. The queen in- 
vited her to court, and Captain Smith evinced his 
gratitude to his preserver by writing a pamphlet 
expressly to exhibit the many and important ser- 
vices she had rendered to the colonists. 

But she did not long enjoy these manifold 
honours. In less than one year after her arrival, 
at the age of twenty-two, she fell a victim to the 
English climate, just as she was on the eve of 
embarking at Gravesend for her native land. 



1617.] EFFECTS OP LABOUR IN COMMON. 121 



CHAPTER X. 

Evils arising from the system of common labour — Right of pri- 
vate property — Conditions of tenure — Indentured servants — 
Bounty land — Dale embarks for England — 'Appointment of 
Yeardley — Cultivation of tobacco — Careless security of the 
colonists — The savages taught the use of fire-arms — Argall 
supersedes Yeardley — His character and arbitrary conduct — 
Kis removal from office — Yeardley reappointed — Second ad- 
ministration of Yeardley — The first general assembly con- 
vened at Jamestown — How composed — Energy of Sandys — 
Large numbers of immigrants sent to Virginia — Importation 
of females — Beneficial effect upon the colonists — Rapid in- 
crease of immigrants — Introduction of negro slavery — Resig- 
nation of Sandys — His successor nominated by King James 
— Spirited conduct of the London Company — Earl of South- 
ampton elected treasurer — The first constitution of Vir- 
ginia. 

During the period that the colonists were fed 
from the public stores, and all were alike compel- 
led to labour for the common benefit, every excuse 
to avoid work was taken advantage of by the 
numerous idlers in the community ; while ^uch 
as were disposed to be industrious grew disheart- 
ened on finding themselves, at the end of each 
successive year, in no better condition than those 
who had systematically evaded all species of in- 
dustry. 

The beneficial efi'ects of establishing the right 

of private property in lands soon displayed them- 

11 



122 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1617. 

selves, and proved, in the most emphatic manner, 
the wisdom of the measure. The conditions of 
tenure were, however, very unequal. Such of 
the colonists as had been sent over at the sole 
expense of the company received only three 
acres of land. Eleven months of each year they 
were required to work for the company, the 
other month they could employ as they thought 
fit. But this kind of enforced servitude soon 
grew out of favour, the number gradually de- 
creased, and in 1617 there were of this descrip- 
tion but fifty-four persons, of all ages, within the 
limits of the colony. 

Those who farmed the plantations at the Ber- 
mudas hundreds fared much better. The set- 
tlers at this place paid annually into the public 
store but two barrels and a half of corn, and 
were not required to perform any more than one 
month's public service, which was not to be de- 
manded of them either in seedtime or harvest. 

During the earlier struggles of the colony, the 
bounty in land offered by the company to such 
as migrated to the new country at their own ex- 
pense, or who had defrayed the cost of others, 
was one hundred acres for each person ; but 
after the colony was more firmly established, the 
bounty was reduced to fifty acres, the actual oc- 
cupancy and cultivation of which entitled the im- 
migrant to claim fifty acres more. By a payment 
of twelve pounds ten shillings, each adventurer 



1617.] CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 123 

could obtain a grant of one hundred acres, and 
a claim to as much more as soon as the previous 
tract was settled and improved. 

After remaining five years in the country, Sir 
Thomas Dale embarked for England in 1616, 
leaving the government in the hands of Sir 
George Yeardley. 

The first articles of commerce, to the produc- 
tion of which the early settlers almost exclusively 
devoted themselves, were potash, soap, glass, and 
tar. Distance, however, and a want of the proper 
facilities to enable them to manufacture cheaply, 
rendered the cost of these commodities so great, 
that exports of a similar character from Russia 
and Sweden were still enabled to maintain their 
old ascendency in the markets of Europe. After 
many fruitless and costly experiments in the cul- 
ture of the vine, the growing demand for tobacco 
enabled the planters to turn their labour into a 
profitable channel. As the demand increased the 
profits became correspondingly great, and every 
other species of labour was abandoned for the cul- 
ture of tobacco. The houses were neglected, the 
palisades suffered to rot down, the fields, gar- 
dens, and public squares, even the very streets 
of Jamestovv^n, were planted with tobacco. The 
townspeople, more greedy of gain than mindful 
of their own security, scattered abroad into the 
wilderness, where they broke up small pieces of 
rich ground and made their crops, regardless of 



124 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1619. 

their proximity to the Indians, in whose good 
faith so little reliance could be placed. 

So imprudent were the colonists in this respect, 
that, encouraged by the example of the Deputy- 
governor Yeardley, they taught the savages the 
use of fire-arms, and employed them as hunters. 
It is true they were on good terms with all the 
surrounding tribes, but the danger to which this 
reckless mode of living exposed the colony was 
none the less imminent. 

In May, 1619, Captain Samuel Argall super- 
seded Yeardley, as deputy-governor of Virginia. 
This change of administration was by no means 
for the better. Argall was a stern arbitrary 
seaman, rugged and self-willed to a degree. Un- 
fortunately, these ill qualities were not tempered, 
as is often the case in seamen, by generosity. 
Argall was appointed both military and naval 
commander in Virginia, and, as martial law was 
still in force, his power was despotic in the ex- 
treme. Had he exercised his authority with the 
same mildness and forbearance which character- 
ized tho acts of his predecessors, even though the 
laws were rigid and their mode of operation sum- 
mary, it is not probable that the colonists would 
have preferred any cause of complaint. But 
Argall rendered his power subservient to his 
avarice, and sought, for his own selfish purposes, 
to make even innocent persons amenable to the 
severe military code. For a long time he sue- 



1619.] SIR GEORGE YEARDLET GOVERNOR. 125 

ceeded in carrying on a system of exaction and 
extortion without rebuke. At length his avari- 
cious grasp took a wider sweep. Not satisfied with 
confiscating to his own use the property of the 
colonists, he sought to increase his means by de- 
frauding the company. These acts finally occa- 
sioned his deposition from office, and in 1619 
Sir Greorge Yeardley was appointed captain-gene- 
ral of the colony. 

Before the latter arrived in Virginia, a pin- 
nace had been despatched to the colony by the 
friends of Argall in London, to warn him of the 
charges which had been preferred against him, 
and of his removal from office. Argall at once 
made preparations for his own safety. 

The pinnace reached Jamestown about the 1st 
of April, and within five days Argall set sail 
from the colony, leaving for his deputy Captain 
Nathaniel Powell. On the 18th of April, Sir 
George Yeardley reached Virginia, and informed 
the colonists of the favourable change which had 
taken place in the afiairs of the London Com- 
pany, and of the great supplies they were pre- 
paring to send out. 

The administration of the new governor was 
as much distinguished by its gentleness and libe- 
rality as that of Argall's was for its tyranny and 
rapacity. The planters were released henceforth 

from all service to the colony, and were confirmed 

11* 



126 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1619 

in their property, both personal and real, as amplj 
as the subjects of England. 

The removal of all restrictions upon labour, 
and the grant to the colonists of all the rights 
and privileges of freemen, mark the second 
period of Yeardley's administration as one of 
more than ordinary interest. Argall's imposi- 
tions were denounced, the rigorous military code 
qualified and softened, and the English statute 
law gradually substituted in its stead. From 
this time there was no fear of scarcity, for food 
became so plentiful in the colony that the In- 
dians, who formerly supplied a considerable por- 
tion of the corn consumed by the settlers, became 
occasional purchasers. 

Self-interest, and the consciousness of enjoying 
a rational degree of liberty, and the right to 
dispose of their property in any manner they 
thought proper, incited every ambitious spirit to 
exert himself to the utmost. The demand for 
tobacco increased, the profits became enormous, 
and large sums were realized, as well by indi- 
viduals as by the company, who had expended 
such a vast amount in sustaining a great project 
under so many and such serious discouragements. 

The London Company, at this period, moved 
by an honourable spirit of liberality, rescinded 
nearly all their former colonial regulations, and 
substituted others of a far milder and more at- 
tractive character. The authority of the gover- 



1619.] SIR EDWIN SANDYS. 127 

nor, which had latterly been despotic in the ex- 
treme, was now tempered and controlled by a 
council, who possessed the power to redress his 
errors. The colonists were also called upon to 
meet at Jamestown, and in a properly organized 
assembly assume the duties of local legislation. 

This was almost exclusively the act of Yeard- 
ley. He convened at Jamestown, toward the 
close of June, 1619, the first colonial assembly 
that ever met in Virginia. It consisted of two 
burgesses from each of the eleven boroughs or 
corporations into which the colony was divided. 
Several acts were passed during the first session 
of this body, which, on being sent to England for 
ratification, were received with expressions of ap- 
proval. 

The scheme of colonization now proceeded 
rapidly. The affairs of the London Company 
were in the hands of a council possessing both 
energy and patriotism. Sir Edwin Sandys, the 
new treasurer, was a man whom neither lures 
nor threats could prevent from exposing the cor- 
ruptions and abuses which had prevailed for so 
many years under the previous management. 
During twelve years, eighty thousand pounds 
had been expended by the company, and as yet 
the colony contained but six hundred persons. 

In one year, Sandys provided a passage for 
twelve hundred and sixty-one immigrants, among 
whom were ninety young and incorrupt women, 



128 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1621. 

sent out as wives to such colonists as were ma- 
trimonially inclined. This importation of poor 
but virtuous girls was received with great favour. 
They were married either to the servants of the 
company, or to men well able to support them, 
and the cost of their transportation willingly de- 
frayed. 

The success which the first consignment met 
with induced the company to venture on a second. 
In 1621, sixty more were sent over, maids of 
virtuous education, young, handsome, and well 
recommended. The blessinsis of domestic life 

a 

had already begun to be appreciated. The origi- 
nal cost of a wife was one hundred pounds of 
tobacco; but as the value of home enjoyments 
became better understood, the price of the mem- 
bers of the second consignment rose to one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds. It was an excellent and 
a thoughtful act. Hitherto Virginia had been 
regarded merely in the light of a temporary resi- 
dence, where wealth was to be acquired more 
speedily than at home ; but few thought of mak- 
ing the colony their permanent place of abode. 

The formation of domestic attachments, the 
beauty of the climate, a personal interest in the 
soil, and the peaceful bearing of the surrounding 
Indians, gradually excited a desire in many to 
end their days in a land which offered a com- 
fortable subsistence to ordinary industry, and 
numerous facilities for the rearing of a family. 



1621.] PURCHASE OF WIVES. 129 

Nothing tended so effectually to restrain the 
reckless spirit and unsettled habits of the colo- 
nists as the introduction of so many women 
among them. The debt for a wife was a debt of 
honour, and took precedence of any other. Mar- 
ried men were regarded by the company as the 
better and more reliable portion of the popula- 
tion, and favoured accordingly. The colony being 
now fixed upon a permanent basis, large numbers 
of immigrants flocked in. Within three years, 
fifty patents for land were granted, and three 
thousand five hundred persons left England for 
Virginia. 

Great complaints having arisen in England 
against the governor and officers of the colony in 
regard to the use of covenanted and indented 
servants, instructions were issued by the council 
for the reformation of the existing abuses. One 
hundred men were allotted the governor to work 
on his plantation, free of charge, during the 
term of his administration. Fifty to the deputy- 
governor farming the college land ; fifty to the 
deputy farming the company's land ; fifty to the 
treasurer, and twenty-five to the secretary, and 
more to the marshal and cape merchant. On the 
retirement or removal of these officials, they were 
to make over an equal number of servants to 
their successors. The object of this generous 
distribution was to enable the officers of the com- 
pany to acquire such a competency, as would 



130 HISTORY OF VIKGINIA. [1621. 

permit tliem to live well' without oppressing any 
under their charge. 

But the event which exercised the most im- 
portant influence upon the future condition of 
the colony was the introduction of African slaves. 

In the month of August, 1620, the commander 
of a Dutch man-of-war entered James River, and 
disposed of twenty negroes. For a long time 
thereafter, this species of traffic progressed but 
slowly ; so that, at the end of thirty years, the 
white population of Virginia outnumbered the 
black in the proportion of fifty to one. 

The previous purchase of indented white ser- 
vants, many of whom were kidnapped from their 
own country and sold among the planters for a 
term of years, made the transition from limited 
white to permanent negro slavery so simple and 
easy, as not only to create no compunctions of 
conscience, but to cause the change to be seriously 
regarded by many as taking the burden from 
the shoulders of their own countrymen, and plac- 
ing it upon a race furnishing hereditary bonds- 
men from the remotest ages, and always regarded 
as forming the lowest type of humanity. 

After serving as treasurer for the London 
Company for one year, the able and energetic 
Sandys resigned his office. The election of his 
successor was not effected without a severe con- 
test. King James, jealous of the liberal and 
patriotic spirit in which the affairs of the com- 



1621.] FIRST WRITTEN CONSTITUTION. 131 

i 

pany had lately been conducted, endeavoured to 
interfere. He nominated four candidates, from 
among whom the company were desired to choose 
their treasurer. Firm in upholding their rights, 
they successfully resisted the royal interference, 
rejected the nominees of the king, and made 
choice of the Earl of Southampton, the early 
patron of Shakspeare. 

The subsequent proceedings of the company 
were equally just and humane. They emphati- 
cally repudiated the arbitrary conduct of Argall 
in a case of appeal from a sentence of death pro- 
nounced by him while acting in his capacity of 
goveraor. They discountenanced the opinion 
formerly prevailing that trial by martial law was 
the noblest kind of trial, and successfully asserted 
the rights of the colonists to trial by a jury of 
their peers. 

The assembly of burgesses summoned by 
Yeardley was now formally sanctioned. In July, 
1621, the company gave to the Virginians a 
written constitution, which guarantied to the 
colonists a much greater share of liberty than 
they had hitherto enjoyed. 

Under the new form of government the gover- 
nor and council of state for the colony were to 
be chosen by the treasurer, council, and company 
in England ; and were to constitute a portion of 
the general assembly. The other members of 
the assembly were to consist of two burgesses 



132 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1621. 

from every town, hundred, or other particular 
plantation, to be chosen by the inhabitants them- 
selves. This assembly, which was to be con- 
vened by the governor once a year, was to have 
full power to treat, consult, and conclude upon 
all subjects concerning the public welfare of the 
colony, and to enact such general laws and 
orders for the benefit of the colony, and the good 
government thereof, as from time to time might 
seem necessary. A negative voice was reserved 
to the governor ; and the laws, to be rendered 
valid, were to receive the subsequent sanction of 
the London Company. As an equivalent con- 
cession to the colony, it was ordained, that after 
the new government shall have gone into opera- 
tion, no orders of the court in London shall bind 
the colony unless ratified in like manner by the 
general assembly. 



1621.] SIR FRANCIS WYATT. 133 



CHAPTER XI. 

Sir Francis Wyatt appointed governor — Arrives in Virginia — 
Scattered condition of the colonists — Their careless state of 
security — Death of Powhattan — Opechancanough suspected 
of treachery — Plis answer — Arranges a plan for the general 
massacre of the colonists — Nemattanow, or Jack of the 
Feather, murders one Morgan and robs him — Is shot down 
by two boys — His dying requests — Terrible massacre of the 
22d of March — Most of the plantations abandoned — Sick- 
ness in the colony — War of extermination — 'Reception of the 
tidings in England — Assistance sent to the colonists — Smith 
tenders his services — Conduct of King James — Attempts to 
dictate to the company — Meets with a second rebuke — Re- 
solves to annul the charter — Appoints commissioners to in- 
quire into the affairs of the company — Resolves to i-eassume 
his conceded authority — His proposition rejected by the com- 
pany — Commissioners sent to Virginia. 

As the term of office for Trhicli Sir George 
Yeardley was appointed drew near to a close, the 
council in London made choice of Sir Francis 
Wyatt to succeed him. The latter, with nine 
ships freighted with immigrants and supplies, 
reached Virginia in October, 1621. A part of 
his instructions was to raise less tobacco and 
more corn. He found the colonists dispersed in 
small parties, widely separated ; their plantations 
extending along the James River, and toward 
the Potomac, wherever the richest land could be 
found. Increase of numbers had made them 
carelessly secure. Many of them lived familiarly 
among the savages; slept with them in their 

12 



134 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1618. 

houses, employed them as hunters, and took no 
pains to guard themselves from surprise. 

The aged Emperor Powhattan died in 1618, 
gratefully reverenced by his own people, and 
honoured by his English neighbours. From 
the period of his daughter's marriage until that 
of his own decease, he remained the firm and 
steadfast friend of the colonists. He was suc- 
ceeded by his younger brother Itopatin, but the 
more daring spirit of Opechancanough soon led 
him to usurp the imperial authority. Although 
this change, from the known character of Ope- 
chancanough, rendered a continuance of amicable 
relations doubtful and uncertain, the colonists, 
confident in their numbers, neglected the most 
ordinary precautions. One reason for this may 
have been their consciousness that the number of 
Indians occupying each village was but small; 
that these villages were widely scattered along 
the banks of the various rivers between the James 
and the Potomac, and that the whole savage 
population, within sixty miles of Jamestown, did 
not number more than five thousand souls, of 
whom some fifteen hundred only were warriors. 
The eastern shore Indians never occasioned the 
English any trouble whatever, but even under 
occasional circumstances of great provocation, 
always remained peaceful and well-disposed. 
Some floating rumour that Opechancanough 
intended to prove treacherous, led Wyatt, about 



1622.] INTENDED MASSACRE. 135 

the middle of March, 1622, to send an envoy to 
him, for the purpose of renewing the treaty 
which had been made with his predecessors. 

Opechancanough received the messenger with 
the greatest respect, and confirmed the treaty not 
only with alacrity and cheerfulness, but accompa- 
nied the act with many expressions of good-will. 
He told the messenger that he held the peace so 
firm, that the sky should fall before he would 
violate it. At this very time he was perfecting 
his schemes for a general massacre, which only 
failed in entire success from the affection which 
one of his own people bore to a colonist who had 
befriended him. 

So well arranged were all the preliminaries of 
the plot, and so faithfully had the secret been 
preserved, that only two days before the massa- 
cre, the Indians guided the English through the 
forest as usual, and even borrowed boats of the 
colonists to cross the river and consult with their 
friends upon the sanguinary measures they were 
about to undertake. On the evening of Thurs- 
day, and even on the morning of Friday, the 22d 
of March, the very day on which the massacre 
was appointed to take place, they came unarmed 
into the houses of the English, under pretence of 
bringing game and other provisions for sale, and 
in some instances sat down to breakfast with 
their destined victims. 

One of the prominent pretexts by which Ope- 



136 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622. 

chancanough had stimulated his people to com- 
bine together, and by a simultaneous attack upon 
all the English settlements, to exterminate the 
intruders at a single unexpected blow, was to 
avenge the death of a favourite warrior by the 
name of Nemattanow. 

This ICemattanow was held in great esteem by 
the Indians generally. As he had been engaged 
in many conflicts and escaped unhurt, they be- 
lieved him to be invulnerable. Taking advan- 
tage of their credulity, he affected a marked sin- 
gularity of dress and demeanour ; making every- 
where an open boast of his person being proof 
against all kinds of Avarlike weapons. By his 
strange ways, and fantastic style of wearing 
feather ornaments, he obtained among the Eng- 
lish the nickname of Jack of the Eeather. 

Nemattanow, being desirous of possessing some 
toys and gewgaws, belonging to one Morgan, 
went to his house and persuaded the latter to ac- 
company him to Pamunkey, where he asserted 
they could be disposed of to great advantage. 
Morgan consented, and Nemattanow murdered 
and robbed him by the way. Two days after- 
ward, he boldly returned to Morgan's house, 
wearing on his head the cap of the dead man. 
Here he found two well-grown boys that had 
been hired to Morgan, who immediately asked 
where their master was. He told them he was 
dead, but refusing to give them any further par- 



1622.] TREACHEKOUS MASSACRE. 137 

ticulars, they demanded he should go with them 
before a magistrate, and relate all he knew con- 
cerning Morgan's mysterious disappearance. As 
Nemattanow not only declined going, but com- 
menced insolently abusing them, they shot him 
down, and then placed him in a boat, intending 
to carry him before the governor, at that time 
some seven or eight miles from them. The 
wound Nemattanow had received proving mor- 
tal, he earnestly entreated the boys in his last 
moments to promise him two things ; the one 
was, that they would not make it known in what 
manner he had been killed ; and the other, that 
they would bury him among the English. 

When the loss of Nemattanow was made 
known to Opechancanough, he broke out into 
such threats of revenge as induced Wyatt to 
send the messenger to him, whose conference 
with the great chieftain resulted in renewed 
and solemn assurances of his desire to remain at 
peace. 

It has been already stated, that the prepara- 
tions for the massacre were made with the utmost 
secrecy. At mid-day on the 22d of March, the 
savages, having marched out from their numerous 
villages, posted themselves, as by previous con- 
cert, in or near the various settlements of the Eng- 
lish, and fell upon them suddenly at one and the 
same moment of time. The attack was so im- 
mediate and unsuspected, that in numerous in- 

12* 



138 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622. 

stances not the least resistance was oifered. 
Some had entered the houses under pretence of 
trading ; others bearing presents of game and 
fish ; others again mingled with the labourers in 
the fields with the familiarity of friends ; while 
the more cautious settlers were enticed abroad 
under various and apparently plausible pretexts. 
Whenever the Indians obtained the mastery, they 
spared none, but destroyed man, woman, and 
child. Those whom they knew to be friends 
shared the same fate as their bitterest enemies. 
Even the pure and single-hearted missionaries, 
who had always mixed with them freely, and 
sought to win their regard by unwearying acts 
of kindness, even they too were murdered, and 
their bodies mutilated in all those hideous and 
horrible ways which only savage barbarity could 
devise. 

And yet these bloodthirsty men were as cow- 
ardly as they were treacherous and sanguinary. 
AVhenever any resistance was offered they fled. 
The firing of a single musket, the mere lifting of 
an axe or a hatchet, was in many instances suf- 
ficient to divert them from their purpose, and 
hurry them away from a place that was even 
slightly defended, to attack another the inhabit- 
ants of which were more timid or less prepared. 
All they could massacre by surprise during that 
day fell victims to their fury. AVith the setting 
of the sun the slaughter ended, and satiated with 



1622.] THE PLOT REVEALED. 139 

blood the Indians retired toward their several 
villages. On that fatal morning, three hundred 
and forty-seven persons were cut off, most of 
them falling by their own weapons, or implements 
of industry. 

But Jamestown, and the settlements imme- 
diately surrounding it, were providentially saved. 
Only one of all the Indians who were privy to 
the conspiracy cherished a sufficiently grateful 
remembrance of the favours he had received, to 
enable him to overcome the repugnance he ex- 
perienced at betraying the cherished secret which 
had been confided to his people. 

Two Indians, who were brothers, chanced to 
sleep together the night previous to the massacre 
at the house of a man named Pace, by whom one 
of the brothers was employed. The other Indian, 
who was in the employ of another planter named 
Perry, urged upon his brother to rise and kill 
Pace at once, and confided to him the whole plot, 
which was to be executed on the morrow. The 
Indian in the service of Pace consented to do as 
he was bid, and immediately went out, leaving 
his brother under the impression that he had 
quitted him for the purpose of committing the 
murder. 

Entering his master's chamber, he revealed to 
him the whole story. Pace instantly arose, and, 
after securing his house, rowed under cover of 
the darkness to Jamestown, and informed the 



140 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622. 

governor what he had heard. By this means 
the capital of the colony, and such plantations as 
could receive the tidings in time to prepare for a 
defence, were preserved from the assault of the 
savages, who, on no single occasion, persevered 
in carrying out their bloody designs where they 
found the English in readiness to receive them, 
or where any thing approaching a sturdy resist- 
ance was offered. 

The larger part of the colony was fortunately 
saved. A year after the massacre there still re- 
mained two thousand five hundred men ; but the 
high-wrought sense of danger which led the colo- 
nists to abandon their plantations, for some time 
afterward seriously retarded their prosperity. 
Of eighty plantations which extended over a 
space of one hundred and forty miles on both 
sides of the James River, only eight were re- 
tained. Into these few the alarmed settlers con- 
gregated. The college lands were abandoned; 
the manufactories closed, and the culture of the 
fields limited to so confined a space as barely to 
afford the means for subsistence. Thus crowded 
together, sickness ensued, and some of the colo- 
nists, taking a sudden disgust to the country, 
abandoned it and returned to England. For 
some time, in the midst of the general conster- 
nation, none thought of retaliating the injuries 
they had sustained ; but when grief and fear 
subsided, a war of extermination commenced. 



1623.] WAR OF EXTERMINATION. 141 

In July of the folloTving year, three hundred 
men penetrated to the Indian villages, and burn- 
ed many of them ; but the inhabitants invariably 
fled as they approached, and secreted themselves 
in the woods. After a fruitless pursuit, pro- 
longed through several months, the English re- 
turned to their homes. 

But the spirit of the people was thoroughly 
aroused. The gauntlet which had been thrown 
down by the Indians was now deliberately taken 
up, their property seized wherever it could be 
found, their plantations and villages sequestered, 
and, meeting guile with guile, even treachery 
was employed to bring their enemies into their 
hands. 

In July, 1624, the general assembly ordered a 
foray similar to that which had taken place the 
year previous. This fierce but desultory war- 
fare was continued for the space of ten years. 
The Indians were everywhere routed from their 
old habitations, and compelled to retreat before 
the footsteps of their relentless pursuers, deeper 
and deeper into the recesses of the forest. 

When the tidings of the massacre were received 
in England, it created a profound sensation. 
Many of the adventurers grew despondent at 
their great losses, and parted with their shares 
for whatever they would bring. Others, how- 
ever, were found ready to fill their places. A 
strong feeling of compassion for the struggling 



142 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1622. 

and unfortunate colony took possession of the 
national mind. Several gentlemen went over 
with their own servants and food, designing to 
take up the bounty lands offered to actual settlers. 
Others purchased grants of the company in Lon- 
don, and obtained authorities and jurisdictions 
separate from the colonial government. The 
latter was an evil policy on the part of the com- 
pany, and one that subsequently led to disorders 
in the colony which threatened to involve it in 
the horrors of civil war. 

The company despatched supplies and assist- 
ance. Even James affected a generosity he was 
incapable of feeling, and ordered from the Tower 
supplies of arms which he knew at the time to 
be utterly worthless. The city of London con- 
tributed to repair the losses of the Virginians. 
Smith, always ready to make a tender of his 
services wheresoever they might be useful, volun- 
teered to keep the savages in subjection with a 
force of one hundred soldiers and thirty seamen ; 
but from a want of funds on the part of the com- 
pany, his project was not entertained. The only 
answer he could get was, that the charge would 
be too great, but that he could obtain permission 
to undertake it at his own cost, provided he would 
bestow upon the corporation one half of the pil- 
lage. 

Taking advantage of the unfortunate condition 
in which the affairs of the company were now 



1622.] INTRIGUES OF JAMES. 143 

placed, King James, who had long been desirous 
of exercising control over the colony, sought the 
present opportunity to annul the charter, by fo- 
menting dissensions among the adventurers. 

The want of success which had hitherto at- 
tended the exertions of the company had led to 
much dissatisfaction among many of those who 
had for a long time held shares of stock so ut- 
terly unproductive. The company at this time 
consisted of a thousand adventurers, of whom 
some two hundred usually attended the quarter 
courts, where the undaunted advocacy of the 
principles of liberty was peculiarly obnoxious to 
the king, and to those adventurers who, being 
opposed to the patriotic party, found themselves 
in the minority, and could only hope to acquire 
the power they coveted by assisting the king to 
recover that control over the colony which he 
had already conceded by charter. 

Desirous of gaining his ends by secret rather 
than open means, James exerted all his influence 
with the malcontents. When the meeting for a 
new choice of officers took place in 1622, he 
again intimated his desire that the treasurer of 
the company should be selected from one of the 
candidates whose names he had sent in. The 
company indignantly rebuked all interference 
with their chartered rights. They re-elected the 
Earl of Southampton treasurer by a large ma- 
jority; only eight votes out of seventy being 



144 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1623. 

cast in favour of the candidates nominated by 
the king. 

Finding it impossible to control the company- 
through the means of its members, James re- 
solved to annul the charter. He immediately 
sought a plausible pretext to do so without a too 
glaring violation of the laws of the realm. The 
malcontent members were easily prevailed upon 
to present two petitions to the king, setting forth 
the many evils which had befallen the colony, 
and attributing them to gross mismanagement 
on the part of the dominant members of the com- 
pany. These charges contained some truths, 
mixed up with many falsehoods. Although they 
had been prepared with great secrecy, the com- 
pany succeeded in obtaining copies, justified their 
course in the main by an able vindication, and 
supported their positions by testimony of a cha- 
racter too respectable to be controverted. 

The king, being resolved to admit of no justifi- 
cation, appointed a commissioner to investigate 
the concerns of the company from its earliest set- 
tlement. The records were seized. The deputy- 
treasurer was imprisoned, and even private letters 
from Virginia were intercepted and broken open. 

The report of the commissioners, as might have 
been expected, was favourable to the views of the 
king. In October, 1C23, by an order in council, 
he declared the misfortunes of Virginia to have 
arisen from the mismanagement of the company, 



1623."] UNJUST ACTS OF JAMES I. 145 

and that he had resolved by a new charter to re- 
assume the appointment of a governor and as- 
sistants to reside in England ; the power to 
negative similar appointments in Virginia, and 
the supreme control in colonial affairs. If the 
company resisted this change, its patent was to 
be annulled. 

A proposition so entirely unexpected struck 
the company with amazement. Three several 
times the order in council was read, and no man 
uttered a word. At length the vote was taken, 
the result of which, by an overwhelming majority, 
was to stand by their charter. 

They now craved a month's delay, in order 
that, by having a larger number of members pre- 
sent, they might be better able to come to a final 
decision. The privy council demanded a decisive 
answer should be sent in within three days. An 
extraordinary court was immediately summoned, 
and the resolution was carried, by a vote of sixty- 
three to seven, to defend the integrity of the 
patent. 

This decision was probably expected. Four 
days afterward the king despatched five com- 
missioners to Virginia, to inquire into all mat- 
ters which concerned the interests of the colony, 
and orders were at the same time sent to the 
governor and council to render the committee 
all possible assistance. 



13 



146 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1624. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Arrival of commissioners in Virginia — Feeling of the colonists 
— Proceedings of the commissioners — Pory suborns the clerk 
of the council — Punishment of the latter — The presence of 
the commissioners disregarded — Acts passed by the assembly 
— Taxation asserted to be dependent on representation — 
Regulations adopted to guard against surprise by the Indians 
— Charter of the London Company cancelled — Death of 
James I. — Great influx of immigrants — No towns in Virginia 
■ — Yeardley appointed governor — Lord Baltimore arrives in 
Virginia — Religious intolerance of the colonists — Baltimore 
returns to England — Obtains a patent for the province of 
Maryland — Yeardley succeeded by Sir John Harvey — Va- 
riance of opinions concerning the latter — He is deposed and 
sent to England — Is returned — Second Virginia massacre — 
Opechancanough taken prisoner — His death. 

The commissioners appointed by James reach- 
ed Virginia in the early part of the year 1624. 
At first, the colonists, taking but little interest 
in the controversy between the king and the 
company, were disposed to remain neutral ; being 
contented, so long as their own rights were not 
invaded, to look quietly on ; but when they had 
obtained, by means of secret friends in London, 
copies of the two petitions presented to the king, 
in which their country and condition were falsely 
represented, they met in general assembly, and 
returned a spirited reply in defence of their own 
honour and good name. A petition to the king 
was soon after drafted, and a member of the 



1624.] CROWN COMMISSIONERS. 147 

council sent to England, at the general charge 
of the colonists, to represent their interests. The 
chief prayer of the petition was, " that the go- 
vernors may not have absolute power, and that 
they might still retain the liberty of popular as- 
semblies, than which, nothing could more con- 
duce to the public satisfaction and public utility.'' 

Differences between the commissioners and the 
assembly soon occurred. As the former declined 
to make known the authority under which they 
acted, and the secret instructions with which 
they had been charged, the governor and assem- 
bly thought proper to preserve an equal mystery 
in regard to their own proceedings. With a view 
to obtain the information they required, Pory, 
one of the commissioners, now suborned the clerk 
of the council, and gained from him a full know- 
ledge of the secret consultations of the Virginians. 
Indignant at this base treachery, the faithless 
clerk was promptly arrested and punished with 
the loss of his ears. After being thus baffled 
and exposed, the commissioners endeavoured, by 
alternate threats and promises, to induce the 
assembly to petition the crown for a revocation 
of the charter. In this they were equally un- 
successful. 

The assembly, refusing to accredit men who 
declined to show the commission under which 
they acted, continued to legislate for the colony 
in their customary manner. 



148 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1624. 

The acts passed at this period show that the 
colonists were fully sensible of their rights as a 
free and independent people. One act is pecu- 
liarly significant ; it declares in the clearest lan- 
guage that taxation and representation must go 
together. This bold proposition is expressed in 
the following words : " The governor shall not 
lay any taxes or impositions upon the colonists, 
their lands, or commodities, in any other way 
than by the authority of the general assembly, to 
be levied and employed as the said assembly shall 
appoint." 

To guard against any future surprise by the 
Indians, the most stringent regulations were 
adopted. There being but few of the inhabitants 
residing in towns, nearly all the colonists being 
scattered widely apart among the plantations, it 
was ordered that every house should be fortified 
with palisadoes, that no man should go or send 
abroad without a party sufficiently armed, or 
work in the fields without a sentry to keep guard 
over the arms. The inhabitants were forbidden 
to go aboard ships, or elsewhere, in such numbers 
as to endanger the safety of their plantations. 
Every planter was required to be provided with 
a sufficient quantity of arms and ammunition, to 
keep a strict watch by night, and to suifer no 
powder to be expended in amusement or enter- 
tainment. Corn planting was promoted by not 
restricting its price, and trade with the savages 



1624.] LONDON COMPANY DISSOLVED. 149 

for that necessary article of food strictly pro- 
hibited. 

Shortly after sending commissioners to Vir- 
ginia, the king had caused a quo warranto to be 
issued against the company. The cause came up 
for trial during Trinity term, in 1624. It was, 
doubtless, already prejudged. Before the end 
of the term a judgment was declared by the Lord 
Chief Justice Ley against the company, and its 
charter cancelled. 

On the return of the commissioners to Eng- 
land, they reported favourably of the soil and 
climate of Virginia, but censured deeply the con- 
duct of the company. The dissolution of the 
latter was followed by no very general regret. 
It had been long engaged in bitter controversies, 
which crippled its influence, and abstracted great- 
ly from its ability to answer the ends for which 
it had been originally organized. Its fall created 
no immediate change in the condition of the 
colony. 

Sir Francis Wyatt was confirmed in his office, 
and himself and council only authorized to go- 
vern within the same limits as any previous go- 
vernor and council resident there within the 
space of the five previous years. 

The council nominated by the king was chosen 
with more than his usual wisdom ; the selection 
being made from men of moderately liberal views 
in preference to violent court partisans. 

13* 



150 HISTORY OF VTEGINIA. [1626. 

The death of James, in March, 1625, put a 
stop to a project he had formed of framing a 
code of fundamental laws for the colony. He 
was succeeded by his son Charles I. 

The prosperity of the colony steadily increased. 
Large numbers of immigrants sailed for the 
favoured country, where they took up land and 
settled separately on their plantations. 

The passion for becoming owners of large 
tracts of land, combined with the advantages 
w^hich the numerous rivers afforded for the ship- 
ment of tobacco from private wharves, encou- 
raged a straggling system of settlement, which so 
effectually prevented the growth of towns, that 
eighty years after this period, or so late as 1703, 
there was not congregated together, in any one 
place in Virginia, a sufficient number of inhabit- 
ants to entitle the collection of houses to any 
higher rank than that of a small village. 

Although Virginia had become a royal pro- 
vince, her rights and privileges were not interfered 
with by Charles. The latter was too intent upon 
monopolizing the trade in tobacco exported from 
the colony to inquire into the origin of its local 
legislation. 

In 1626, Wyatt was succeeded as governor by 
Sir George Yeardley. No appointment could 
have been more satisfactory to the Virginians, 
as it relieved them from all fear that their form 
of government would undergo any radical change. 



1628.] LORD BALTIMORE. 151 

Charles had, doubtless, no design to take from 
the colonists their cherished privilege of self-go- 
vernment, and in the commission of the ncAvly- 
appointed governor, expressly declared his wish 
to benefit, encourage, and perfect the colony, 
and to continue its prosperity by the same means 
that were formerly thought best suited to effect 
that purpose. 

The colonial assembly was thus tacitly acknow- 
ledged ; and as Yeardley had the honour of its 
first introduction, his reappointment was regard- 
ed as a happy omen. 

The death of Yeardley, in 1628, led to the ap- 
pointment of Sir John Harvey. During the in- 
terim, Francis West was elected by the council 
to occupy the office vacated by the decease of 
Yeardley, until his successor should arrive. 

It was at this period that Lord Baltimore 
visited Virginia. His intention was to have set- 
tled in the colony, but having become by con- 
viction a Roman Catholic, he was received with 
the utmost coldness by the people, who required 
him, as a preliminary to his becoming a recog- 
nised citizen of the colony, to take the oath of 
allegiance and supremacy. His religious scru- 
ples prevented him from complying with this 
demand, and, pained at the religious intolerance 
of winch he^had been made a striking example, 
he resolved upon seeking a settlement elsewhere. 

With this view he explored the Chesapeake 



152 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1635. 

Bay, and finding it as yet altogether uninhabited 
by the English, none of whose settlements ex- 
tended beyond the south side of the Potomac 
River, he projected the plan of a new colony, to 
be founded under his own auspices, and entirely 
independent of Virginia. On his return to Eng- 
land, he succeeded in obtaining from Charles I. 
a grant of the province of Maryland, bounded 
to the south, on the western shore, by the Po- 
tomac River ; and on the eastern shore, by an 
east line from Point Lookout. Lord Baltimore 
dying before his project was fully perfected, his 
son obtained, in 1633, a confirmation of the 
patent, and went over in person to plant his new 
colony. 

On the unexpected return of West to England, 
John Pott was chosen Governor of Virginia, 
whose term of administration came to an end, in 
the autumn of 1629, by the arrival from Eng- 
land of Sir John Harvey. 

The administration of Harvey has been va- 
riously characterized., By some historians he is 
regarded as having acted in a rapacious and 
tyrannical manner. His deposition from office 
in 1635, and his shipment to England, accompa- 
nied by commissioners empowered to lay their 
complaints before the king, gave a plausible 
colouring to the charge. On the other hand, his 
apologists point out the circumscribed power of 
the governor, and ask how it was possible for 



1639.] DISCONTENTS. 153 

tyranny to have been exercised under a preroga- 
tive so limited ? 

There is very little doubt that the period dur- 
ing which Harvey was governor was one of great 
party heat and excitement. 

A grant issued in 1630 to Sir Robert Heath, 
for the territory of South Carolina, was well 
calculated to produce an unpleasant state of 
feeling in Virginia, which the subsequent grant 
of Maryland to Lord Baltimore by no means 
tended to allay. The Virginians felt that the 
boundaries of their province had been unjustly 
circumscribed, and they charged Harvey with 
having rendered assistance in obtaining the ob- 
noxious patents. 

That the colonists must have felt themselves 
seriously aggrieved before they ventured upon 
an act, than which nothing was more likely to 
draw upon them the displeasure of the king, 
cannot be doubted for a moment. Charles was 
indeed indignant. He refused to hear the com- 
missioners, sent them directly home, and rein- 
stated Harvey in his former office without insti- 
tuting any inquiry into his previous conduct. 

In 1639, Harvey was succeeded by Sir Francis 
Wyatt. The latter remained in office only two 
years, when he surrendered his authority into 
the hands of Sir William Berkeley. 

During the earlier years of Berkeley's adminis- 
tration, many new and judicious laws were made 



154 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1644. 

bj the Virginians, which tended to perfect their 
system of government. Condemnations to ser- 
vice were abolished, the courts of justice made 
more conformable to those of England, religion 
was provided for, the land titles adjusted, and 
the boundary difficulties with Maryland amicably 
arranged. 

The contending factions by which England was 
at this time torn did not in any serious degree 
affect Virginia. There, all was peace, concert, 
and harmony. The* Indians, against whom in- 
roads were made almost annually, having heard 
of the troubles in the mother country, were in- 
stigated by the now very aged Opechancanough 
to cut off, by a second massacre, three hundred 
of the colonists. The loss fell severest upon the 
plantations to the south of James River, and on 
the heads of the other rivers, but chiefly in the 
neighbourhood of the Pamunkey, where the au- 
thority of Opechancanough was most implicitly 
recognised. 

Opechancanough had been in his earlier years 
a man of large stature and of commanding ap- 
pearance. He has been called, by Smith and 
other historians, the brother of Powhattan ; but 
the tradition of the Indians was different. They 
spoke of him as a prince of a foreign nation, who 
came to them a great way from the south-west ; 
and from accounts subsequently given to the 
settlers, he was supposed to have sprung from 



1644.] OPECHANCANOUGH. 155 

the Spanish Indians on the frontiers of Mexico. 
One thing is certain, whether a native or a 
foreign prince, from the first settlement of James- 
town until his own death, he continued either 
secretly or openly the bitter foe to the English. 
No sooner did the tidings of this massacre 
reach Berkeley, than he commenced against the 
savages retaliatory measures of the severest 
kind. Their villages were burned to the ground, 
their crops destroyed, and they themselves, hunt- 
ed incessantly among the recesses of the forest, 
were shot down without mercy wherever they 
could be found. The aged Opechancanough was 
the especial object of pursuit. He had now 
grown so decrepit, that, being unable to walk 
alone, he was carried by his men wherever he 
was compelled to flee before his relentless pur- 
suers. His once stalwart person was now gaunt 
and emaciated. His sinews slackened, and his 
eyelids had become so heavy that he could not 
see but as they were lifted up by his servants. 
In this low condition he was surprised in his 
hiding-place by a party of horse, and conducted 
a prisoner to Jamestown. He was received by 
the governor with all respect and tenderness, but 
he did not survive his capture more than two 
weeks ; one of the soldiers by whom he was 
taken prisoner having basely shot him through 
the back, in revenge for the injuries which the 
colonists had suffered. 



156 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1644. 

He bore up with stoical bravery to the last 
moment of his life, and did not exhibit the least 
dejection at his captivity. Hearing one day the 
sound of numerous footsteps about him, he caused 
his eyelids to be lifted, and finding that a crowd 
of persons had been admitted to see him, he 
called indignantly for the governor, and told him 
with great scorn, that if it had been his fortune 
to have taken Sir William Berkeley prisoner, he 
would not meanly have exposed him as a show 
to the people. The mortified chieftain had for- 
gotten the exultation with which, at an earlier 
day, he had paraded Virginia's noblest champion. 
Captain John Smith, through all the Indian vil- 
lages from the Pamunkey to the Potomac. 



1644. HER PROSPEKITY. 157 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Berkeley sails for England — Treaty of peace with the Indians 
— Prosperity of Virginia — Her loyalty — Hospitality extended 
to fugitive Cavaliers — Charles H. proclaimed — Action of the 
English Parliament — Virginia acknowledges the common- 
wealth — Berkeley resigns — Richard Bennett elected governor 
— Indian incursion — Edward Diggs elected governor — Samuel 
Matthews chosen governor — His controversy with the bur- 
gesses — Declares the dissolution of the assembly — The as- 
sembly deposes the governor and council — Re-elects Matthews 
— His submission — Richard Cromwell — Acknowledged pro- 
tector of England — The Virginia assembly defines its privi- 
leges — Restoration of Charles II. — Berkeley sails for England 
— The laws of Virginia revised. 

The prosperity of the province of Virginia 
suffered no material check from the last Indian 
outbreak. The savages themselves were alarmed 
at their own temerity, and, to avoid the wrath 
they had provoked, fled immediately from the 
scene of massacre. The settlers most exposed 
upon the frontiers banded together for self-de- 
fence during a brief period ; but even then com- 
panies of ten men were considered suflicient to 
insure protection against any force which the 
savages could bring against them. 

In June, 1644, Berkeley sailed for England. 
During his absence, Richard Kemp was elected 
by the council to exercise the functions of gover- 
nor. 

11 



158 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1645. 

Berkeley returned to the province in June, 1645, 
and reassumed the duties of his office. In October 
of the following year, a treaty of peace was con- 
cluded with Necotowance, the successor of Ope- 
chancanough. By the terms of this treaty, the 
Indians were permitted to inhabit the north side 
of the York or Pamunkey River, while the whites 
obtained a cession, for ever, of all the country 
from the falls of the James and York to the 
Chesapeake Bay. 

The long struggle between Charles I. and the 
Parliament, which ended in the decapitation of 
the king, and the elevation of Oliver Cromwell 
to the protectorate, crowded the ports of Vir- 
ginia with vessels and immigrants. At the close 
of 1648, thirty-one ships traded to the province, 
twelve of which were from London and Bristol, 
a like number from Holland, and seven from New 
England. 

Attached to the cause of Charles from the 
moderation with which he had exercised his pre- 
rogative as regarded themselves, the Virginians 
were disposed to look upon the success of the 
parliamentary party in England as likely to affect 
the welfare of the province injuriously. Such 
fugitive Cavaliers, therefore, as sought a home 
among them, they welcomed with the most un- 
bounded hospitality. Every house was a shelter 
for them, and every planter a friend. 

Berkeley, also a devoted loyalist, received the 



1652.] CHARLES II. PROCLAIMED. 159 

fugitives with open arms. His purse and his 
dwelling were free to all. Charles II. was pro- 
claimed with enthusiasm the rightful monarch of 
Virginia, and every expression of dissent on the 
part of the few republicans who inclined to the 
cause of the English commonwealth was prompt- 
ly rebuked. 

Charles, then an exile at Breda, did not fail 
to evince his gratification at the loyalty displayed 
by Virginia. He sent Berkeley a renewal of his 
commission as governor, and suggested fit candi- 
dates for various offices in the province. 

For three years after the execution of Charles 
I., the authority of his son was acknowledged by 
Virginia. 

No sooner, however, were affairs tranquillized 
nearer home, than the English Parliament turn- 
ed its attention to the colonies. An ordinance 
was passed empowering the council of state to 
reduce the rebellious colonies to obedience, and 
closing the ports of Barbadoes, Antigua, Bermu- 
das, and Virginia, against foreign trading ves- 
sels. Maryland had already made submission, 
and Massachusetts, anticipating the orders of 
Parliament, to preserve the independence of her 
own legislation, had prohibited all intercourse 
with Virginia until the supremacy of the com- 
monwealth should be established. 

In the early part of 1652, an English squad- 
ron, after reducing Antigua and Barbadoes, en- 



160 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1652. 

tered the waters of the Chesapeake. Active pre- 
parations had previously been made by the Vir- 
ginians for a vigorous defence ; but when terms 
were offered them, by which it was agreed that 
the act of submission should be considered a 
voluntary one, and not enforced by conquest ; 
that they should enjoy equal liberty with the 
free-born people of England ; that they should 
enact their own laws by general assembly as 
hitherto ; and that they should be free from all 
taxes, customs, and impositions whatever, except 
such as the general assembly should consent to, 
there was no longer any reason or policy to per- 
severe in their resistance, and therefore, upon 
those terms, the articles of surrender were signed 
by the general assembly and the commissioners 
of the commonwealth. 

By this amicable arrangement, Virginia lost 
nothing of her former independence. Berkeley, 
a devoted loyalist, immediately resigned his office, 
and Richard Bennett, one of the commissioners, 
was elected governor. A new council was also 
organized, with power to act only upon such in- 
structions from England as should be first ratified 
by the general assembly. At the same session 
it was declaredbest that officers should be elect- 
ed by the burgesses, who were the representa- 
tives of the people, and the governor and council 
were only to be admitted in future to seats in 



1652.] GOVERNOR MATTHEWS. 161 

the assembly, by taking a similar oath to that 
required of the burgesses. 

About this time the colony was again troubled 
with Indian hostilities. A number of strange 
Indians, calling themselves Rechahecrians, de- 
scended from their homes among the mountains, 
to the number of six or seven hundred warriors, 
and took up a strong position on the falls of 
James River. The first expedition sent against 
them returned unsuccessful. A second one was 
organized soon after, which was accompanied by 
a band of tributary Indians under their chief 
Totopotomoi. Supported by the English, these 
savage allies fought with desperate bravery. 
They numbered one hundred men ; and were 
nearly all of them killed, including their chief. 

In 1655, Edward Diggs, who, as a member of 
the council, had given repeated proofs of his 
fidelity to Virginia and the commonwealth of 
England, was elected governor by the assembly. 

In March, 1658, the choice of the assembly 
fell upon " worthy Samuel Matthews, an old 
planter of forty years standing, who kept a good 
house, lived bravely, and was a true lover of Vir- 
ginia." 

Notwithstanding this high praise of Governor 
Matthews, his elevation appears to have inspired 
him with so exalted an idea of his prerogative as 
to lead him into a controversy with the assembly. 
The latter had extended its powers by making a 

14* 



162 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1658. 

change in the constitution, under which all laws 
were in future to be discussed in private session, 
and not, as heretofore, in the presence of the 
governor and his council. Instead also of dis- 
solving the assembly, the burgesses thought fit to 
adjourn the session until November. 

On the 1st of April, the governor and council 
declared by message a dissolution of the assem- 
bly. The answer of the latter denied the legal- 
ity of the act, and requested that it should be 
revoked. A resolution v/as then carried, by which 
such members as separated from the rest of the 
assembly were to incur censure as false to the 
trust reposed in them, and the acts of those re- 
maining were to be considered as the acts of the 
entire house. Each member was further bound, 
by oath, not to disclose the proceedings of the 
assembly. 

This sturdy resistance to the dictation of the 
governor induced him to yield ; but as he ex- 
pressed, at the same time, his intention to appeal 
to the protector, the assembly voted his answer 
unsatisfactory, and requested him to revoke his 
order of dissolution. 

Matthews consented to do so, but still asserted 
his determination to refer the dispute to Crom- 
well for his decision. 

Fully conscious that such an act would be 
likely to jeopardize their liberties, the members 
of the assembly resolved on a solemn assertion 



1658.] BOLD PROCEEDINGS. 163 

of their independent powers. They declared the 
house of burgesses incapable of dissolution by 
any authority in Virginia except their own. To 
show that they possessed the right to remove 
obnoxious officers, they deposed the governor and 
council, and then re-elected the former and a part 
of the latter. They further resolved, that in 
future no one should be admitted of the council 
unless he was nominated, appointed, and con- 
firmed by the house of burgesses. 

These bold proceedings effectually alarmed 
Matthews. He consented to hold his office on 
their own terms, and acknowledged the supremacy 
of the assembly by taking the new oath which 
they prescribed. The principle of popular sove- 
reignty being thus unequivocally admitted, the 
public business was conducted in future with the 
utmost harmony. 

When Cromwell died, in March, 1659, the bur- 
gesses, after deliberating privately, unanimously 
resolved to recognise his son Richard. 

As the council in England, in the letter which 
officially notified to the Virginians the death of 
the protector, had left their government to be 
conducted according to former usage, the as- 
sembly determined to define its existing powers 
in the most explicit manner. 

T*ie governor was accordingly summoned to 
attend the house, and in the presence of the 
whole assembly, to solemnly acknowledge that 



164 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1659. 

the supreme power of electing officers was by the 
present laws resident in the grand assembly. 

The reason assigned for requiring this sub- 
missive avowal on the part of the governor affords 
a remarkable evidence of the estimation in which 
the Virginians held their popular sovereignty. 
It was, in order " that what was their privilege 
now, might be the privilege of their posterity." 

The protectorate of Richard Cromwell was 
speedily brought to an end by his quiet resigna- 
tion of an authority which he had no ambition 
to wield. 

About the same time, Governor Matthews died. 
The burgesses were immediately called together. 
As England was without an acknowledged head, 
they decreed that the supreme power of Virginia 
should be vested in the assembly, and that all 
writs should issue in its name until a commission, 
recognised as legal by the assembly itself, should 
arrive from England. 

Sir William Berkeley, who had resided quietly 
upon his plantation during the protectorate of 
Cromwell, was now re-elected governor. He 
consented to accept the office at the hands of 
the assembly, acknowledged himself its servant, 
agreed to call an assembly once in two years at 
least, and not to dissolve it without its own con- 
sent. 

But while thus tenacious of their liberties, the 
Virginians felt no desire to be released from their 



1660.] BERKELEY REAPPOINTED. 165 

allegiance to England so long as they were per- 
mitted to retain the power of controlling their 
own affairs. Notwithstanding their politic recog- 
nition of the English commonwealth, their loyalty 
to the Stuarts remained unshaken. 

During the interregnum, Virginia regulated 
her own commerce by acts of independent legis- 
lation. She opened her ports to all foreign 
ships, on the payment of no higher duty than 
was levied on English vessels bound to a foreign 
port ; she entertained proposals of peace and 
commerce with New Netherlands ; and extended, 
by special statute, to every Christian nation at 
peace with England, a promise. of liberty to trade 
and equal justice. 

Upon the restoration of Charles II., the latter 
sent Berkeley a new commission, with leave to re- 
turn to England, and power to appoint a deputy 
in his absence. Leaving Colonel Francis Mor- 
rison deputy-governor, Berkeley set sail, and was 
received by the king with great kindness. The 
attachment of Charles to the most loyal of his 
colonies is well known. Tradition states, that in 
compliment to the province of Virginia, he wore 
at his coronation a robe made of the silk sent 
from thence ; but the affection of the restored 
monarch never subsequently displayed itself in 
any more substantial manner. 

While Berkeley was absent, Colonel Morrison, 
acting under the instructions of his superior, re- 



166 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1661. 

vised the laws of Virginia, and compiled them 
into one body, ready to be confirmed by the 
assembly on his return. By these laws the 
church of England was recognised as the esta- 
blished religion ; the change of the government 
sustained, trade and manufactures encouraged, a 
town projected, and all Indian affairs settled. 

The parishes were likewise regulated. Com- 
petent allowances of about eighty pounds a 
year, besides glebes and perquisites, were made 
to ministers. Their method of preferment was 
also adjusted, convenient churches and glebes 
were provided, and all necessary parish officers 
instituted. Some steps were also made toward 
establishing a free school and a college, and all 
the poor were effectually provided for. 

For the support of the government, the duty 
of two shillings on each hogshead of tobacco, and 
one shilling on every ton of shipping, was made 
perpetual, and the collectors rendered responsible 
for the same to the general assembly. 

For the encouragement of manufactures, boun- 
ties were offered for the best pieces of linen and 
woollen cloth, and fifty pounds of tobacco were 
offered for each pound of silk. All persons were 
enjoined to plant mulberry trees in proportion to 
the number of acres they held. Tanneries were 
erected in each county at the county charge, 
and public encouragement given to a salt-work 
on the eastern shore. A bounty was also offered 



1662.] JAMESTOWN. 167 

in proportion to tonnage for all ships built in 
the province, which were also to be exempted 
from all the customary fees and duties. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Jamestown in 1662 — Increase of nonconformists — Persecution 
of — Their migration from Virginia — Projected massacre — 
Its opportune discovery — The prosperity of the province 
checked by injurious EngUsh laws — Futile attempts of the 
assembly to remedy the evil — An exploring party cross the 
Blue Ridge — Growing difficulties — Change in the political 
condition of the Virginians — Statistics of the province in 
1671 — Oppressed situation of the poorer planters — Magnifi- 
cent vagaries of Charles II. — Agents sent to England — Popu- 
lar disturbances — Descent of the Seneca Indians upon the 
Susquehannas — Outrages committed on the frontiers by the 
latter — Six chiefs treacherously murdered — Sanguinary re- 
taliation — Arming of the Virginians — Berkeley reprobates 
war — Nathaniel Bacon — His condition and character — 
Marches against the Indians. 

Ox his return from England in the latter part 
of the year 1662, Berkeley prevailed upon the 
assembly to pass an act for the improvement of 
Jamestown, which had dwindled into an insignifi- 
cant village. Seventeen houses were accordingly 
erected therein at the expense of the several 
counties, who were allowed to impress labourers 
for the work at established rates. Every private 
person who built a house within the limits of the 
city was entitled to receive, as a bonus, from the 
public treasury, ten thousand pounds of tobacco. 



168 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1663. 

All persons wlio consented to become citizens of 
the town were to be privileged from arrest for 
two years ; all ships trading to Virginia were 
ordered to go to Jamestown and enter their car- 
goes before they broke bulk; and all tobacco 
made in the three neighbouring counties was 
directed to be brought to the same point and 
stored for shipment. 

These regulations were soon found impractica- 
ble, and the assembly gave permission to such 
ships as were bound to the York, Rappahannock, 
and Potomac Rivers, to ride dispersed and anchor 
wherever it was found most convenient. James- 
town accordingly was but little increased in 
population under the new law which had been 
passed for its especial benefit, and for many 
years afterward consisted of but thirty-two brick 
houses, most of which were converted into taverns 
and other places of entertainment. 

In 1663, the number of nonconformists in- 
creasing rapidly, the assembly, in order to check 
what it considered a growing evil, enacted that 
all who refused, " out of averseness to the ortho- 
dox established religion, or the new-fangled con- 
ceits of their own heretical inventions, to have 
their children baptized by the lawful minister, 
should be subjected to a fine of two thousand 
pounds of tobacco." 

Other restraints and penalties, equally severe, 
being imposed upon those who could not in con- 



1663.] CONSPIRACY. 169 

science conform to the doctrines of the church 
of England, many of them migrated into the 
neighbouring colonies, while others settled on the 
banks of the Chowan, where a few immigrants 
of the same persuasion had laid the foundation 
of what was subsequently to be known as the 
province of North Carolina. 

This rigorous religious persecution, joined to 
the extremely low price of the staple commodity, 
tobacco, occasioned the poorer class of people to 
break out into loud murmurs against the govern- 
ment, and led to the formation of a conspiracy 
among the indented servants, some of whom 
had been soldiers under Cromwell. These lat- 
ter, depending upon the malcontent citizens for 
assistance, arranged a plot to murder their mas- 
ters and the colonial officers, and then to take 
upon themselves the government of the province. 

The evening of the 13th of September was 
designated for the massacre ; but upon the night 
of the 12th, a man by the name of Birkenhead, 
who was servant to a Mr. Smith of Purton, in 
Gloucester county, betrayed his accomplices. 

Tidings of the discovery were immediately sent 
to Governor Berkeley, who ordered a party of 
militia to proceed at once to Poplar Spring, near 
Purton, which was the appointed rendezvous of 
the conspirators, and having secreted themselves 
to seize the miscreants as they came singly up. 
This scheme was successful only in part ; a few 

15 



ITO HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1663. 

of the earlier comers were taken prisoners, but 
others, making their escape, informed those who 
were behind, and the full extent of the conspiracy 
never becoming perfectly known, was doubtless 
much magnified. 

For a time, the alarm growing out of the dis- 
covery of this plot was very great in Virginia. 
The assembly appointed a thanksgiving to be 
observed annually on the 13th of September. A 
guard was ordered for the protection of the go- 
vernor and council, and a fort built at James- 
town, upon which several small pieces of cannon 
were mounted. 

By an act of the English Parliament which 
went into operation during this year, all foreign 
goods intended for the colonies must first be 
landed in England, and be sent thence in English 
vessels. Under this act the English merchant 
obtained the entire control of the tobacco raised 
in Virginia ; which, for want of any competition, 
he could purchase at his own valuation, while the 
Virginians were compelled to take such European 
goods as they required, in exchange, at any price 
the merchant might choose to ask. 

To remedy this, the assembly endeavoured to 
raise the price of tobacco, by omitting to plant 
it for a year or more. But in order to render 
the scheme effectual, it was necessary to obtain 
the consent of Maryland to a similar restriction. 

After much negotiation, the latter province, in 



1666.] EXPLORING PARTY. 171 

1666, passed an act ordering no tobacco to be 
planted for one year ; but Lord Baltimore would 
not consent to its going into operation. Several 
other attempts were made to carry out a similar 
treaty, both with Maryland and the new province 
of Carolina, but they all proved abortive in the end. 

The first exploring party that ever crossed 
the Blue Ridge was sent out from Virginia, by 
Berkeley, during this year. It consisted of four- 
teen Virginians, and as many Indians, the whole 
detachment being placed under the command of 
Captain Batt. 

The party set out from Appomattox, and after 
a march of seven days reached the foot of the 
mountains. Those they first approached were 
neither high nor steep, but after they passed the 
first ridge, they encountered others which were 
so perpendicular, and so full of precipices, that 
it was with great difficutly they could travel three 
miles in a direct line in a whole day's march. In 
other places they found large level plains, dotted 
with groups of trees, and abounding with the deer, 
the elk, and the bufi'alo, so tame and gentle that 
they showed no fear at the appearance of the 
men, but would suffer them to approach within a 
few feet of them before they would change their 
quarters. After crossing other mountains, the 
exploring party came to a fine river, the stream 
of which they followed several days, until they 
came to old fields and cabins where the Indians 



172 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1670. 

had lately been. Batt left some toys in the de- 
serted cabins, as an evidence of friendly feeling, 
and was about to continue his journey when his 
Indian allies refused to venture any farther. 

They said, that not far off from that place, 
was a tribe of Indians which made salt, and sold 
it to the neighbouring savages ; that this tribe 
was numerous and powerful, and never suffered 
any strangers to return after they had once 
entered their towns. 

Finding the Indians resolute in their determi- 
nation not to incur any more risk by prolonging 
the adventure. Captain Batt was compelled to 
return to the province, with all his high-wrought 
hopes of discovery frustrated. 

The report of Batt to Governor Berkeley stimu- 
lated the latter to attempt the journey in person, 
but his preparations were defeated by growing 
difficulties within the province. 

Notwithstanding the loyalty of the Virginians, 
the restoration of Charles II. had proved fatal to 
many of their most cherished rights and privi- 
leges. The authority of the crown was recog- 
nised in the choice of the governor and council ; 
the justices of peace, who exercised the power 
of levying county taxes, received their appoint- 
ment directly from the governor ; the burgesses, 
previously elected every two years by universal 
suffrage, legislated themselves into an indefinite 
continuance of power ; and finally, in 1670, 



1671.] HER CONDITION. 173 

although the system of direct taxation bore upon 
all freemen with a like equality, the assembly 
restricted the right of a voice in the election of 
burgesses to such only as were housekeepers and 
freeholders. 

In 1671, the entire population of Virginia was 
estimated at forty thousand persons. Of this num- 
ber, two thousand were negro slaves, and six thou- 
sand white indented apprentices. Of the latter, 
some fifteen hundred, mostly English, were import- 
ed annually. Of tobacco, the staple commodity, 
the quantity exported during the previous year 
was between fifteen and twenty thousand hogs- 
heads, weighing three hundred and fifty pounds 
each. The ships trading to the province num- 
bered some eighty. The executive consisted of 
the governor and fifteen councillors, subordi- 
nate to the assembly ; the latter having full au- 
thority to levy such taxes as the exigencies of 
the province required. " We have forty- eight 
parishes," adds Berkeley, from whose letter to 
the privy council in England this account is 
taken, "and our ministers are well paid, and by 
my consent should be better, if they would pray 
oftener, and preach less." A little farther on, 
he thanks God there are neither schools nor 
printing-offices in the province, and hopes there 
will be none for a hundred years to come. 

The poorer freemen of the province bore up 
under their various grievances and restrictions 

15* 



174 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1673. 

for several years, but Avith a gradually increasing 
impatience. The price of tobacco was extremely 
low, while the cost of foreign commodities had 
been enhanced ; the taxes, bearing upon rich and 
poor alike, were oppressively unequal ; while the 
franchise, a right which they had cherished so 
long, had become limited in its operation. The 
high wages which the burgesses had voted them- 
selves, together with the cost of maintaining forts 
which were of little or no service, were also pro- 
lific sources of complaint. But all these evils of 
local origin were as nothing compared to the 
alarm into which the province was thrown by the 
magnificent vagaries of Charles II., its beloved 
sovereign. 

His first freak was to give to one Colonel 
Norwood, for a term of years, the royal quit- 
rents, instead of applying them to the benefit of 
the colony. His next, to grant to the Earl of 
St. Albans, Lord Culpepper, and others, the 
whole northern neck of Virginia ; that is, the 
peninsula between the Kappahanock and the 
Potomac Rivers, without even excepting the 
plantations already settled there. 

Finally, in 1673, the whole province was as- 
signed, for thirty-one years, to Lords Culpepper 
and Arlington, including all quitrents, escheats, 
the power to grant lands, and to erect new coun- 
ties ; the presentation to new churches, and the 
nomination of sheriff's, escheators, and surveyors. 



1674.] DISSATISFACTION. " 175 

The nature of this assignment did not become 
known in the province until the following year. 
It was no sooner understood, however, than the 
whole people resolved to remonstrate. The as- 
sembly met, and after drawing up an address to 
his majesty, complaining of the grant as deroga- 
tory to previous charters and privileges, despatch- 
ed three agents to England to solicit a modifica- 
tion of the grant, or to purchase it up for the 
benefit of the province. 

To defray the charge of these agents, the as- 
sembly imposed upon the colonists — besides the 
ordinary taxes — a tax of one hundred pounds of 
tobacco per head, to be collected in two annual 
instalments, and amerced every unsuccessful 
suitor in the provincial courts, in a fine, ranging 
from thirty to seventy pounds of tobacco. 

These taxes and amercements fell heaviest 
upon the poorer class of people, the profits of 
whose labour had scarcely been sufiicient, in ordi- 
nary times, to feed and clothe their families. In 
1674, the public dissatisfaction had broken out 
into popular disturbances, which were, however, 
speedily suppressed by a proclamation of the 
governor, aided by the calmer counsels of influen- 
tial persons. But although quiet was thus re- 
stored, it was only for a brief season. Mere 
words were not sufficient to relieve positive suf- 
fering, and the people felt that their hardships 
still continued. Nor were many of the wealthier 



176 -' HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1674. 

colonists insensible of the political change which 
the province had of late years undergone. They 
too looked back regretfully to former days of 
freedom and prosperity, and were ready to seize 
on any occasion which should offer them a fa- 
vourable opportunity of asserting their ancient 
privileges. Time soon brought the occasion, and, 
with it, a leader around whom all classes of free- 
men could rally in a common cause. 

During the year 1674, the Seneca Indians left 
their northern hunting-grounds, and precipitating 
themselves upon the Susquehannas, forced the 
latter to fall back on the borders of Maryland 
and Virginia. Several murders occurring in 
1675, within the limits of Virginia, were retali- 
ated upon the savages by the militia of the fron- 
tiers. War was declared, and as Maryland w^as 
at the time most seriously threatened, she received 
aid from the Virginia planters residing in the vici- 
nity of the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. 

These planters were commanded by John 
Washington, the great-grandfather of George 
Washington, a farmer settled in Westmoreland 
county, who had immigrated from England to 
Virginia some eighteen years before. 

Having formed a junction with the Maryland- 
ers, the united forces attacked a fort of the Sus- 
quehannas on the north side of the Potomac, 
and — provoked, perhaps, by previous outrages — 
slew, in the heat of passion, six Indian chiefs 



1674.] INDIAN WAR. 177 

who were sent out by the besieged to treat of 
peace. It was a treacherous act, and met with 
deserved reprobation. The leader of the Mary- 
land militia was arrested hj order of both 
houses of assembly, and narrowly escaped with 
his life; while Berkeley indignantly declared, 
^'If they had killed my father and my mother, 
and all my friends, yet if they had come to treat 
of peace, they ought to have gone in peace." 

After a desperate resistance the fort was 
taken, but the savages that escaped revenged 
the deaths of their slaughtered messengers by 
sacrificing ten colonists to each chief thus wan- 
tonly slain. 

When this sanguinary retaliation was accom- 
plished, they once more offered to treat for 
peace. But the passions of the Virginians were 
now fully aroused, and peace was refused. 
Berkeley himself, holding the monopoly of the 
beaver trade in Virginia, was inclined to favour 
the Indians. He was charged with being in- 
fluenced more by his avarice than the safety of 
the province. 

At this juncture, the tributary Indians, who 
had faithfully observed their treaty stipulations 
for thirty years, commenced a series of outrages 
upon the settlers. The people clamoured loudly 
for permission to defend themselves, and fixed 
upon Nathaniel Bacon for their leader. 

Bacon was a young and wealthy planter, 



178 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1675. 

scarcely thirty years of age, gifted with fine 
talents and an eloquent address. He had been 
educated in England, where he studied law in the 
Temple. On his return to Virginia he was called 
to a seat in the council, but being popularly in- 
clined was no favourite with Berkeley, whose 
royalist and arbitrary tendencies gained strength 
with his advancing age. But the liberal opinions 
which lost Bacon the good graces of the gover- 
nor gained him numerous friends among the peo- 
ple, who already began to look upon him as the 
champion of their cause. Dissensions arose in 
the council, and the vacillating conduct of the 
government at this juncture threw upon it the 
contempt of all who believed that the safety of 
the province required prompt and decisive action. 
Bacon, after sending in vain to Jamestown for 
authority to organize an expedition against the 
Indians, asserted openly, that if another white 
man was murdered, he would take upon himself 
the authority which the people were desirous to 
confer, but which the government would neither 
grant nor refuse. Tidings were soon brought 
that some of Bacon's own men had been killed 
by the Indians on his plantation near the falls 
of the James Biver. Five hundred Virginians 
immediately flew to arms, and without waiting 
any longer for authority from Jamestown, Bacon 
placed himself at their head, and commenced his 
march against the enemy. 



1676.] DEPARTURE OF BACON. 179 



CHAPTER XV. 

Departure of Bacon — Berkeley commands him to return and 
disperse his followers — Bacon attacks an Indian fort and car- 
ries it by storm — Is pursued by Berkeley — Disturbances in 
the lower counties — Dissolution of the old assembly — A new 
assembly called — Bacon elected a burgess — Is arrested by 
order of the governor — Temporary reconciliation — 'Bacon 
appointed commander-in-chief — Jealousy of Berkeley — Re- 
fuses Bacon a commission — Five hundred men march into 
Jamestown — Berkeley submits — Retires to Gloucester coun- 
ty — Proclaims Bacon a rebel — Bacon issues writs for a con- 
vention of the people — Berkeley retreats to Accomac — - 
Raises an army and sails for Jamestown — Bacon marches 
against him — The governor deserted by his troops — Trium- 
phant progress of Bacon — His death — Violent proceedings 
of Berkeley — Thomas Hansford and others hanged — Death 
of Berkeley. 

The departure of Bacon was quickly made 
known to Berkeley. Irritated at finding his aur 
thority treated with contempt, the old governor 
issued a proclamation depriving Bacon of his 
seat in council, and commanding his followers to 
return to their homes. Such as feared the for- 
feiture of their estates obeyed, and Bacon was 
left to continue his march with only fifty-seven 
men. After penetrating the wilderness until his 
provisions were nearly exhausted, Bacon reached 
the vicinity of a fort of friendly Indians, from 
whom he offered to purchase such stores as 
the half famished condition of his men most 



180 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1676, 

imperatively required. The Indians readily 
promised to supply his wants, but for three days 
afterward delayed to fulfil their agreement. His 
food being entirely exhausted, and suspecting the 
garrison to be acting under secret advice from 
the governor, Bacon placed himself at the head 
of his followers, waded the deep stream flowing 
in front of the fort, and entreating the savages 
to furnish his men with food, tendered, at the 
same time, full payment for all that should be 
brought him. 

While he was thus earnestly negotiating, a 
shot from the bank he had just quitted killed 
one of his men. His resolution was instantly 
taken. Fearful of an attack in the rear, he 
fired the palisades, stormed and burnt the fort 
and cabins, and with the loss of only three men, 
slew one hundred and fifty Indians. 

In the mean time, Berkeley, instigated to ex- 
treme measures by the aristocratic faction in the 
province, levied troops and marched in pursuit 
of Bacon, but was soon compelled to retrace his 
steps. 

To relieve their friend from the danger with 
which he was threatened, Drummond and Law- 
rence, both gentlemen of liberal principles, and 
of the highest standing in the community, fo- 
mented an insurrection in the lower counties. 
The people met by beat of drum, declared forts 
an intolerable nuisance, and giving vent to their 



1676.] BACON ARRESTED. 181 

long-pent-up hatred of the imperious assembly, 
demanded its dissolution. Berkeley, unable to 
contend against the popular voice, was compelled 
to submit. The assembly was dissolved ; writs for 
a new election were issued ; and Bacon, returning 
in triumph from his brief Indian campaign, was 
unanimously elected a burgess from his own 
county of Henrico. 

Conscious of the danger he was likely to incur 
by proceeding to Jamestown alone. Bacon de- 
scended the river in a sloop, accompanied by 
forty armed followers. Thus protected, be wait- 
ed on the governor and council for the purpose 
of justifying the course he had pursued. Being 
refused a hearing, he indignantly returned to his 
sloop and set sail for Henrico. 

A longboat, filled with men, was immediately 
despatched to intercept him. Shots being fired, 
he exchanged the sloop for a small skiff, and re- 
treated with greater speed up the river. Berke- 
ley, however, had sent swift messengers, over- 
land, to the ships lying at Sandy Point ; and 
Bacon, finding his retreat cut off, surrendered to 
the summons of the sheriff, and with twenty of 
his followers was conveyed a prisoner to James- 
town. 

But though the popular and patriotic young 
leader was now placed completely in his power, 
Berkeley did not dare to punish him with severity. 
The new assembly, which met in June, 1676, con- 

16 



182 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1676. 

tained many burgesses who had espoused the 
liberal views of Bacon, and were diligently bent 
upon restoring those rights and privileges of 
which they had been deprived for several years. 

The passionate old governor was induced to 
concede a pardon to the insurgents ; while Bacon, 
moved thereto, perhaps, by the entreaties of his 
uncle — whose next heir he was — humbled himself 
before the assembly, and asked forgiveness of the 
past on the promise of future obedience. 

By this means, and by the intervention of 
friends, a temporary reconciliation was effected 
with Berkeley, and Bacon was restored to his 
seat in council. The assembly appointed him 
soon after commander-in-chief, and the governor 
consented to sign his commission. The people 
were greatly rejoiced. It looked like the dawn 
of a happier day. The darling of their hopes 
had but stooped to conquer. The principles of 
Bacon rapidly gained ground, and many acts 
were passed by which much of the ancient free- 
dom was restored. 

Berkeley regarded these doings with a jealous 
eye. The particular pains taken by the assembly 
to redress old grievances was by no means pala- 
table to him. 

The activity of Lawrence and Drummond, both 
members of the assembly, was particularly ob- 
noxious. He characterized them openly as rogues, 
and bade the burgesses beware of them; bade 



1676.] BERKELEY'S TYRANNY. 183 

them despatch the Indian business, and meddle 
with nothing else till that was done. The in- 
creasing popularity of Bacon, his eloquence, his 
engaging manners, his blameless life, and, above 
all, his freely expressed sentiments of patriotism, 
kept the suspicions of the governor constantly 
on the alert. When liberal principles wholly 
prevailed in Virginia, Berkeley had acknowledged 
himself the servant of the burgesses. The roy- 
alist tendencies of the latter, and a grasping de- 
sire on their part to maintain their seats for life, 
had led them to contract the liberties of the 
people, and to surrender to the crown the ap- 
pointment of the governor and council, in the 
hope of retaining for themselves a permanence 
of office. With increase of power, Berkeley 
grew imperious and dogmatic. He was no longer 
the servant of the assembly, but its arrogant 
master, and any attempt to resist his dictation, 
or to infringe upon what he considered his pre- 
rogative, was, in his opinion, a crime little short 
of treason to the crown. 

Bacon, from his commanding talents, and the 
affection with which he was regarded by the 
masses, soon became to Berkeley an object of fear 
and dislike, and the impetuous old man was but 
a poor dissembler. When, therefore, Berkeley 
was requested to sign the commission of Bacon 
as commander-in-chief, he refused. Bacon im- 



184 HISTORY or VIRGINIA. [1676. 

mediately left Jamestown, and in a few days re- 
entered it at the head of five hundred men. 

These sturdy followers, after surrounding the 
statehouse while the burgesses were in session, 
clamoured loudly for a commission to their leader, 
and indemnity for their present act. 

Presenting their fusils at the windows of the 
apartment where the burgesses met, and which 
was then crowded with faces, they repeated the 
demand for the commission, adding menacingly, 
"We'll have it! we'll have it!" One of the 
members then waved his handkerchief to them 
from the window, and cried out, "You shall have 
it, you shall have it !" Upon this promise the 
men unbent their locks, and grounding their arms 
waited till Bacon should rejoin them. 

No sooner was the presence of the latter at 
the head of an armed force known to Berkeley, 
than, accompanied by his council, he went out to 
meet him. There was no want of courage in the 
testy old governor. Baring his breast as he 
advanced, he cried out to Bacon, "A fair mark! 
shoot !" The reply of the young leader was 
calm. "No, may it please your honour," said 
he, " we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor 
of any other man's. We are come for a commis- 
sion to save our lives from the Indians, which 
you have so often promised ; and now we'll have 
it before we go." On the second day, Berkeley, 
pressed on all sides, was compelled to submit. A 



1676.] bacon's proceedings. 185 

commission was issued, appointing Bacon general 
of all the forces then raising in Virginia, and a 
despatch was transmitted to England, signed by 
the governor, his council, and the burgesses, 
commending the legislation of the new assembly, 
and the zeal, loyalty, and patriotism of Bacon. 

Energetic operations were at once commenced 
against the savages. As preliminary to the cam- 
paign for which the troops were organizing, the 
thickets and swamps were pierced by scouting 
parties of rangers, and the stragglers of the 
enemy driven back upon the main body. 

At length, when Bacon was prepared to put 
his little army in motion, Berkeley retired to 
Gloucester county, called a convention of the 
inhabitants, and against the openly avowed 
opinions of those whom he had summoned 
together, proclaimed Bacon a rebel. 

Berkeley's " two rogues," Lawrence and Drum- 
mond — the former an Oxford scholar, and the 
latter but recently governor of the new province of 
North Carolina — immediately bore the tidings to 
Bacon in his camp. Conscious of being inspired 
by none other than patriotic motives. Bacon ap- 
pealed at once from the irascible governor to the 
people of Virginia, whom he called upon, by all 
they held most dear, to meet in convention and 
shake off the tyranny of Berkeley. 

His summons was responded to with alacrity. 
The ablest and best men in the province assem- 

16* 



186 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1676. 

bled at Middle Plantation — now Williamsburg. 
Many excellent speeches were made, but those 
of Bacon were superior to any. The whole con- 
vention promised, under the sanctity of an oath, 
to support him in the war against the Indians, 
and to make common cause with him, even afrainst 
troops from England, until such time as a correct 
statement of affairs could be laid before the king. 

Berkeley now retreated across the bay to Ac- 
comac county, accompanied by Beverly, Lud- 
well, and a few other ultra loyalist partisans. 
Here he succeeded in collecting, by profuse 
promises of pay and plunder, a force of nearly 
one thousand men. With this army, in two 
ships and sixteen sloops, he sailed up the James 
River, and on the 8th of September, 1676, en- 
camped at Jamestown. 

In the mean time. Bacon had not been idle. 
Acting upon the advice of Drummond, Lawrence, 
and other patriotic counsellors, the retreat of 
Berkeley to the eastern shore was proclaimed 
an abdication of his government, and writs were 
issued by Bacon and four of his colleagues, call- 
ing upon the people to send delegates to a new 
convention. 

No act could have been more popular with the 
great majority of the people. Even the women of 
the province expressed their joy on this occasion. 
Sarah Drummond, the wife of the patriotic ex- 
governor of North Carolina, said, " The child 



1676.] SARAH DRUMMOND. 187 

that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the 
good that "will come by the rising of the coun- 
try." 

<' If we overcome the governor, a greater power 
from England will ruin us in return," said Ralph 
Weldinge. Sarah Drummond smiled contemptu- 
ously. Taking from the ground a small stick, 
she broke it in two pieces as she replied, " I fear 
no more the power of England than a broken 
straw." 

Always resolute and cheerful, this noble 
hearted woman animated the troops with a por- 
tion of her own enthusiasm ; and in the midst 
of increasing dangers, cried out hopefully, "We 
shall do well enough." 

As soon as tidings were received that Berke- 
ley again occupied Jamestown, and in force, swift 
messengers were despatched throughout the pro- 
vince, calling upon the planters to arm in defence 
of their liberties. Drummond and Lawrence 
immediately set out to join Bacon, who had just 
disbanded his troops after a successful expedition 
against the Pamunkey Indians. 

A new force was speedily collected, and though 
it was still inferior to that under Berkeley, Bacon 
determined to march at once upon Jamestown. 

In order to enable him to throw up his in- 
trenchments without annoyance from the loy- 
alists. Bacon despatched small parties of horse 
to bring in from the neighbouring plantations the 



188 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1676. 

wives of such gentlemen as had taken up arms 
in support of the governor. These he displayed 
on the crest of his unfinished works ; but when 
the latter were completed, the ladies were re- 
moved beyond the reach of harm. Berkeley, 
confident in his numbers, sallied out at once to 
attack the patriots ; but being repulsed with loss, 
his followers deserted him in search of plunder, 
and the old governor was compelled to embark 
hastily on board his ships during the night, and 
retreat down the river to Accomac. 

The following morning Bacon entered James- 
town. To prevent it from becoming a second 
time a place of refuge for the loyalists, it was 
determined in a council of war to lay the town in 
ashes. Drummond and Lawrence, the owners 
of the best houses in the place, set the example, 
by each putting fire to his own dwelling. 

Jamestown being destroyed, even to the church, 
the first that ever was in Virginia, Bacon march- 
ed against Colonel Brent, who was advancing 
from Accomac at the head of a reinforcement of 
twelve hundred men. On the approach of the 
little army of patriots. Brent was deserted by 
his troops, and hastily fell back from whence he 
came ; while Bacon, having revolutionized with 
ease the entire western shore, made his prepara- 
tions to cross the bay, and subject the only small 
strip of territory which yet acknowledged the 
authority of Berkeley. 



1676.] DEATH OF BACON". 189 

But the malaria of the marshes around James- 
town was more fatal to the cause of the young 
patriot general than the arms of the aristocratic 
Cavaliers. He was attacked by a malignant fever 
caught by sleeping in the trenches, and on the 
1st of October he died. 

With the loss of Bacon ended the hopes of the 
patriots. The new leader, Ingram, did not pos- 
sess either the talent or the popularity of his 
former chief. Berkeley exerted himself with 
renewed activity ; and having entire possession 
of the naval force of the province, was soon 
enabled to attack separate detachments of the 
patriots, and beat them in detail. 

Thomas Hansford, a native of the colony, was 
the first partisan officer that was taken prisoner. 
Young, gay, reckless, with a keen sense of honour, 
and a sincere love for his country, his fate was 
regarded with the greatest commiseration. After 
his sentence had been announced to him, he asked 
no favour of the governor but that he «' might 
be shot like a soldier, and not hanged like a 
dog." Berkeley replied vindictively, "You die 
not as a soldier, but as a rebel !" 

Turning to the assembled crowd, as he ap- 
proached the gibbet, Hansford said : " Take 
notice, I die a loyal subject, and a lover of my 
country." 

Two other partisan leaders, Cheeseman and 
Wilford, were captured shortly after, upon the 



190 HISTORY OP VIRGINIA. [1676. 

York Kiver. Wilton was the son of a royalist 
knight, who had died fighting for Charles I. 
Alluding to the eye which he had lost in the late 
skirmish, he said jocosely, " If I was stark blind, 
the governor would afford me a guide to the gal- 
lows." 

"Why did you engage in Bacon's designs?" 
demanded Berkeley, at the trial of Cheeseman. 

"My provocations," said his wife, stepping 
forward, " made my husband join in the cause 
for which Bacon contended ; but for me he had 
never done what he has done." Then falling on 
her knees, she continued : " Since what is done 
was done by my means, I am most guilty ; let 
me be hanged, but let my husband be par- 
doned." 

"Away!" exclaimed Berkeley, adding, in the 
fierceness of his passion, a term of reproach that 
sullied the lips which uttered it. 

When Drummond was brought in a prisoner, 
Berkeley made him a profound bow. " You are 
very welcome," said he ; "I am more glad to see 
you than any man in Virginia ; you shall be 
hanged in half an hour." In three hours he 
was dead. 

Berkeley's thirst for blood increased with the 
means of gratification. Twenty-two persons were 
hanged in spite of remonstrances and interces- 
sions. 

"The old fool," said Charles IL, "has taken 



1676.] DEATH OF BERKELEY. 191 

away more lives in that naked country, than I 
for the murder of my father." 

The commissioners who had been sent over by 
the king to inquire into the origin of the disturb- 
ances censured the conduct of Berkeley. The 
English people expressed in loud terms their de- 
testation of his sanguinary measures ; and Berke- 
ley, who had returned to England with the vessel 
which had borne the commissioners to Virginia, 
took the public reprobation so much to heart, 
that he sickened and died almost immediately 
after his arrival in London. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

Jeffreys appointed governor — An attempt made to regulate the 
Indian traffic — Political restrictions again enforced^ — Chiche- 
ley deputy-governor — Arrival of Lord Culpepper — Appointed 
governor for life — His avaricious disposition — Defrauds the 
troops — Returns to England — Administration of Chicheley — 
Impoverished condition of the province — Discontent of the 
people — Return of Culpepper to Virginia — Compromises 
with the planters of the northern neck — Embarks for Eng- 
gland — Lord Howard appointed governor — His meanness 
and avarice — Transportation of prisoners for political offences 
— Their reception in Virginia — Administration of Nicholson 

• — Project for a college — A charter obtained — Andros ap- 
pointed governor — His neatness and method — Is succeeded 
by Nicholson. 

Upon Berkeley's embarkation for England, 
Herbert Jeffreys was appointed governor. He 
made soon after a treaty of peace with the In- 



192 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1677. 

dians. In October, 1677, a new assembly was 
convened, which attempted to regulate the future 
traffic with the Indians, by limiting it to certain 
fixed places, at which the traders and the savages 
were to meet semi-annually. 

But these regulations were soon violated by 
the Indians, who conceived that the treaty of 
peace remained imperfect while they were re- 
stricted in their mode of dealing. After an in- 
effectual attempt to systematize the traffic ac- 
cording to the law, the rules were abandoned as 
impracticable. 

The death of Bacon was peculiarly unfortu- 
nate for Virginia in many respects. The liberal 
opinions he had encouraged and sustained found 
no open advocacy after the terrible punishment 
awarded by Berkeley to the prominent prisoners 
who had fallen into his hands. The right to 
define the form of government was taken from 
the people, and assumed by the crown. The as- 
semblies were thenceforth to be called only once 
in two years, and the session was limited to 
fourteen days. The old restriction upon the 
franchise was restored under an order from the 
king, which directed that freeholders alone should 
be entitled to elect the members of assembly. 
All the old grievances returned, many of them 
in an aggravated shape, and the aristocratic 
faction were once more in full possession of their 
former supremacy. 



1680.] LORD CULPEPPER. 193 

On the death of Jeffreys, which took place in 
December, 1678, Sir Henry Chicheley, who had 
been deputy-governor under Berkeley, produced 
his old commission, and his authority was ac- 
knowledged by the council until a new governor 
should arrive from England. 

In April, 1679, the assembly met at Middle 
Plantation, and ordered forts to be built and 
garrisoned on the Rappahannock, the Matapony, 
the Potomac, and James Rivers. 

In the spring of 1680, Lord Culpepper arrived 
in Virginia. He had obtained from the facile 
Charles, besides the immense tract of land 
lying between the Potomac and the Rappahan- 
nock, an appointment as governor of Virginia for 
life. An assembly was convened in June, and 
three acts, already passed and ratified in Eng- 
land, were offered to the burgesses for their ac- 
ceptance. The first, and most grateful to their 
feelings, was an act granting general pardon and 
oblivion for all transgressions and outrages com- 
mitted in the time of Bacon's rebellion. The 
second, took the power to naturalize foreigners 
out of the hands of the assembly and placed 
it in those of the governor. The third, of a 
far more grievous character, was also accepted, 
though not without encountering severe opposi- 
tion, for it authorized a perpetual export duty of 
two shillings on every hogshead of tobacco, and 

granted the proceeds as a royal revenue for the 

ir 



194 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1680. 

support of tlie government, to be accounted for, 
not to the assembly, but to the king. 

Lord Culpepper was less evil disposed, politi- 
cally, toward the colonists, than avaricious to 
make the most he could out of them in the short- 
est possible space of time. 

In consideration of his being a peer, he ob- 
tained of the king a salary of two thousand a 
year as governor of Virginia, instead of one 
thousand as previously allowed. He also received 
one hundred and fifty pounds a year for house 
rent, in addition to the usual perquisites. 

The latter, Culpepper took especial pains to 
increase in every possible way. It had been 
customary previously, for all masters of vessels 
trading to Virginia, to make certain presents of 
liquors and provisions toward the governor's 
housekeeping. These presents Culpepper re- 
mitted, and received instead, as a duty, twenty 
shillings on every vessel of less than a hundred 
tons, and thirty shillings for all over that bur- 
then. The amount being ordered to be paid 
regularly at each clearance of the ship. 

Culpepper had other schemes also for raising 
money. The standard of value being higher in 
the neighbouring colonies than in Virginia, he 
proposed to the assembly to raise it to an equality 
with others. The assembly consented, and were 
about to pass a law for that purpose, when his 
lordship stopped them, and told them as it was 



1680.] RAPACITY OF THE GOVERNOR. 195 

a part of the king's prerogative, it would be bet- 
ter for himself as governor to effect the change 
bj proclamation. 

The money for the payment of the regiment 
of soldiers sent over during Bacon's rebellion 
passing through Culpepper's hands, he had 
bought up, at a reduced price, light pieces of 
eight — a silver coin approximating in value to 
the modern dollar. He now issued a proclamation 
for raising the value of pieces of eight from five 
to six shillings. As soon as the coin passed cur- 
rent at the new rate, he produced an order for 
the payment and disbanding of the troops ; but 
when his own salary and perquisites were about 
to be paid in coin at the same high estimate, 
Culpepper again made use of his prerogative to 
reduce the value of money to its former standard. 

In less than a year he returned to England, 
leaving Sir Henry Chicheley deputy-governor. 
The rapacity of Culpepper, and the pursuance 
of a similar system of extortion by Chicheley, 
so impoverished the province, that the planters 
were only restrained v,'ith great difficulty from 
breaking out into open revolt. Had not the 
disastrous issue of Bacon's rebellion, and the 
sanguinary excesses committed afterward, taught 
them the prudence of curbing their resent- 
ment, there is no doubt that a serious insur- 
rection would have arisen out of the oppressed 
condition of the province. As it was, disturb- 



196 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1683. 

ances were continually occurring, which kept 
Chicheley and his council in constant alarm. 
These were not wholly quieted until Culpepper 
again reached Virginia in 1682, and hanged, in 
a summary manner, a few of the most prominent 
offenders. 

The design of Culpepper in returning to a 
country which was distasteful to him as a place 
of residence, was for the purpose of reviving his 
claim to the northern neck. In this object he 
was so far successful as to compel the planters to 
negotiate a compromise. 

In May, 1683, he again embarked for England ; 
and the council, soon after, taking into considera- 
tion the impoverished condition of Virginia, pe- 
titioned the king to recall his grant to Arlington 
and Culpepper. 

The petition was successful. Arlington sur- 
rendered his rights ; the patent to Culpepper was 
annulled by process of law ; and, in July 1684, 
Virginia again became a royal province, of which 
Lord Howard of Effingham was appointed go- 
vernor. 

The new governor was soon found to be as 
avaricious of money as his predecessors. He 
required a license to be taken out by all school- 
masters and members of the bar. He extorted 
excessive fees for putting the official seal to pro- 
bates of wills and letters of administration, even 
where the estates of the deceased were of the 



1685.] LETTER TO THE COUNCIL. 197 

meanest value. He even descended so low as to 
share the perquisites of ofifice with his clerks. 

In 1685, James II. ascended the English 
throne. The rebellion of the Duke of Mon- 
mouth, a natural son of the late king, took place 
soon after. When the bloody executions which 
follovred its suppression were in a measure check- 
ed, many of the unfortunate prisoners who had 
escaped with their lives, were condemned to be 
transported to the colonies, for terms of years 
never less than ten, where they were sold to the 
planters as servants. 

The demand for labour was at this time so 
great in the plantations, that the convicts and 
labourers shipped from abroad were purchased at 
from ten to fifteen pounds each. Of those trans- 
ported by the sanguinary Jeffreys for their par- 
ticipation in Monmouth's rebellion, many were 
gentlemen by birth and education. Against such, 
James was excessively severe. Under the coun- 
tersign of his minister Sunderland, he wrote to 
the governor and council of Virginia : " Take 
all care that they shall serve for ten years at 
least ; and that they be not permitted to redeem 
themselves, by money or otherwise, until that 
term be fully expired. Prepare a bill for the 
assembly of our colony, with such clauses as 
shall be requisite for this purpose." 

But the A^irginia assembly were not inclined to 
follow the dictation of the king. No bill was 

17* 



198 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1690. 

passed. The exiles were received in the province 
with that commiseration which their misfortunes 
merited. Immediately after the accession of 
William and Mary, in 1689, all those who had 
been transported to the colonies for political 
offences received a full pardon. 

After the downfall of James II., Lord Howard 
of Effingham returned to England, leaving the 
duties of governor to Colonel Nathaniel Bacon. 
The administration of Bacon was brief, and un- 
marked by any occurrence worthy of notice. In 
1690, Francis Nicholson, who had been appoint- 
ed lieutenant-governor under Howard, reached 
Virginia and immediately assumed the duties of 
his office. 

The business of Nicholson was to recommend 
himself to the people of Virginia, and through 
them to the new government in England. He 
accordingly sought to ingratiate himself by pa- 
tronizing sports and games of various kinds, 
and by awarding prizes to all who excelled 
in the exercises of riding, running, shooting, 
wrestling, and backsword. A project for a 
college, which had been for some time in agita- 
tion, was warmly encouraged by the new gover- 
nor. He declined, nevertheless, to call an as- 
sembly for the purpose of taking the matter into 
consideration, but acceded to a proposition for 
a general subscription, to which he personally 
contributed largely. His example was promptly 



1692.] SIR EDMUND ANDROS. 199 

followed. Aided by the generous contributions 
of several merchants in London, the sum raised 
within the year, amounted to two thousand five 
hundred pounds. 

When the assembly was convened in 1691, it 
entered heartily into the proposed scheme for a 
college. An address in its favour was drawn up 
and transmitted to England, and the Reverend 
Mr. Blair sent out to obtain from the joint sove- 
reigns, William and Mary, a charter for the 
same. The envoy was peculiarly successful in 
his mission. He obtained a charter such as the 
people of the province desired. Their majesties 
also gave, toward the founding of the college, 
the balance due on account of quitrents, amount- 
ing to nearly two thousand pounds sterling ; 
while toward its endowment, they allowed twenty 
thousand acres of choice land, together with the 
revenue arising from tobacco exported from Vir- 
ginia and Maryland to the other plantations. 

In 1692, Nicholson was succeeded as governor- 
in-chief by Sir Edmund Andros. During the six 
years the latter remained in office, many reforms 
were introduced by him from which the colony 
received considerable benefit. Andros was one 
of the most methodical of men, and through his 
nice sense of neatness and order, the office of the 
provincial secretary underwent an entire revi- 
sion. Important documents had hitherto been 
thrust negligently into the first vacant space that 



200 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1698. 

offered. Many original patents, records, and 
deeds, with other papers of importance, had been 
scattered loosely about the ofi&ce until they were 
partly eaten by the moths, or otherwise soiled 
and mutilated. These irregularities were speedily 
reformed. The governor caused the loose and 
torn records of value to be transcribed into new 
books, and ordered shelves and closets to be con- 
structed for their better preservation in future. 
He had scarcely ceased to congratulate himself 
upon the completion of his labours, when the 
State House took fire in the month of October, 
1698, and was burned to the ground. Notwith- 
standing this calamity, and in despite of the 
brief period yet remaining before his term of 
office expired, the governor caused all the re- 
cords and papers saved from the fire to be pro- 
perly arranged and registered, and in this excel- 
lent condition turned them over to Nicholson, 
who had been appointed his successor. 



1698.] A NEW CITY. 201 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Administration of Nicholson — Williamsburg founded — Dissent- 
ers tolerated by statute — Enormous power of the governor — 
Modes of its restriction — Bold project of De Callier, Gover- 
nor of Montreal — How defeated — English scheme of general 
defence for the colonies — Virginia refuses her quota — Nichol- 
son's letter in consequence — 'Loses his popularity — Political 
discontent — Nicholson removed — The office of Governor of 
Virginia granted as a sinecure to the Earl of Orkney — Ed- 
ward Nott appointed deputy governor — Kevised code of 
Virginia — Prominent provisions — Jennings president of the 
council — Succeeds Nott — Colonel Spotswood appointed 
deputy-governor — Crosses the Blue Ridge — Is knighted — Is 
succeeded by Hugh Drysdale — Death of Drysdale — Accession 
of Brigadier-general Gooch. 

The administration of Nicholson, though ex- 
tending from 1698 to 1705, was comparatively 
quiet and uneventful. The first object to which 
he turned his attention, was to obtain from the 
assembly the passage of an act to build a new 
city which should constitute in future the capital 
of the province, instead of the unfortunate and 
insalubrious Jamestown. 

Middle Plantation, where the new college build- 
ings had already been erected, had been found 
by constant experience to be healthy and agree- 
able to the constitutions of the inhabitants of the 
colony, having the natural advantages of a serene 
and temperate air, and a fine open country, well 
watered with springs. It hkewise possessed the 



202 HISTORY OP VIRGINIA. [1698. 

additional convenience of two navigable creeks 
running out of James and York rivers. Two 
hundred and twenty acres of the tract were ac- 
cordingly purchased for the use of the colony, and 
laid out in half-acre lots. The streets of the new 
city, in evidence of the loyalty of the colonists, 
were arranged in the form of a cipher, made of the 
letters W and M, in honour of William and Mary, 
and the name given to the future capital was 
Williamsburg. 

As a means of defraying the expenses of 
building the State House, the tax previously 
placed on liquor, and a new tax on servants and 
slaves — not English — imported into the colony, 
were appropriated to that purpose. 

During the same session, a resolution was 
passed for a complete revisal of the colonial 
laws. In obedience to orders from England, the 
assembly also granted, by statute, the benefit of 
the English toleration acts to dissenters. This 
was the beginning of religious freedom in Vir- 
ginia. 

But if the commands of the crown constrained 
the Virginians to recognise the rights of noncon- 
formists, the ancient political privileges of the 
province were still withheld. From the period 
of Bacon's rebellion the power of the governor 
had increased. " He was lieutenant-general and 
admiral, lord treasurer and chancellor, the chief 
judge in all courts, president of the council, and 



1698.] POWER OF THE GOVERNOR. 203 

bishop, or ordinary ; so that the armed force, the 
revenue, the interpretation of law, the adminis- 
tration of justice, the church — all were under his 
control or guardianship." 

Three restrictions upon the abuse of this 
authority existed, in the instructions from abroad, 
in the council, and in the vote of the general 
assembly; but as the instructions were not di- 
vulged, as the council were dependent upon the 
chief magistrate for their seats and prospective 
advancement, and as the assembly not only 
occupied a subordinate position, but lay under 
the constant surveillance of the clerk — who held 
his office from the governor — had the latter been 
disposed to tyrannize, few would have been found 
bold enough to censure his acts. 

Great, however, as the power of the governor 
really was, it was seldom exercised to the injury 
of the people. The latter had, indeed, by assent- 
ing to the establishment of a perpetual revenue, 
crippled their means of resistance, but, as the 
governor was often compelled to call upon the 
burgesses for additional supplies, they claimed 
the right of appointing a treasurer subject to 
themselves only, and when this privilege was de- 
nied them by the crown, Virginia declined to con- 
tribute its quota to the defence of the colonies 
against France. 

Previous to 1692, the French governor of 
Montreal, the Count De Callier, viewing with alarm 



204 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1695. 

the rapid growth of the English colonies, formed 
the daring project of separating the eastern pro- 
vinces from those of the south, by the capture 
of New York. This plan having been adopted 
by the French government, a fleet was sent, in 
September, 1692, to take possession of the bay 
of New York, with orders to co-operate with a 
land force which was to have marched from 
Quebec by way of the Sorel river and Lake 
Champlain. 

This bold and well planned scheme, was how- 
ever, rendered abortive by a sudden invasion of 
Canada. The fierce and warlike tribes constitut- 
ing the five nations, suddenly spread terror and 
desolation throughout the French possessions, and 
compelled the governor to employ the force des- 
tined to operate upon New York, in guarding 
weak points at home, or in waging ineffectual 
battle against the wary and sanguinary savages. 

To prevent the project of De Callier from 
being carried into effect at some future day, the 
English government, in 1695, devised a plan of 
general defence, the charges of which were to be 
borne by the respective provinces according to 
the ratio of population. 

To the great disappointment of Nicholson, 
with whom the plan was a favourite, and in direct 
opposition to orders from England, the Virginia 
assembly unanimously refused to appropriate any 
moneys for the purpose required, on the ground 



1704.] DIFFICULTIES OF NICHOLSON. 205 

that <^ no forts then in being, nor any others 
that might be built in the province of New York, 
could in the least avail in the defence or security 
of Virginia, since either the French or the north- 
ern Indians might invade the colony, and not 
come within a hundred miles of such forts." 

Nicholson himself took this refusal by no means 
placidly. He even wrote to the king, suggesting 
that Virginia should be coerced into acquiescence. 
The reply of William was but little suited to the 
bustling and ardent character of his governor. 
The monarch merely recommended that the mat- 
ter should be again referred to the General As- 
sembly. 

This imprudent act on the part of their once 
popular governor, brought Nicholson into colli- 
sion, both with his council and the assembly. 
Roused by the quarrel, the people were led to 
examine, somewhat narrowly, the manner in which 
they had lately been governed. They no sooner 
made the discovery that other provinces were in 
the enjoyment of greater privileges than them- 
selves, than they grew dissatisfied, and demanded 
to be placed on an equal political footing with the 
most favoured of the colonies. 

The difficulties of Governor Nicholson now 
rapidly increased. His conduct in many instances 
having been of a character that would not bear 
close scrutiny, the council, which was composed 
of the wealthiest men in the province, were at 

18 



206 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1705. 

length able to make such representations as led 
to his removal in 1705. 

The office of Governor of Virginia was no sooner 
declared vacant, than Anne, who had ascended 
the English throne, bestowed it as a sinecure for 
life upon the Earl of Orkney. Subsequently, 
during a period of nearly fifty years, the office 
was held in this manner ; the nominal governor 
receiving three-fifths of the salary, or twelve hun- 
dred pounds sterlfng annually ; the remaining 
two-fifths, or eight hundred pounds, being paid 
to a deputy-governor, by whom the duties were 
actually performed. 

The first deputy-governor under the new 
arrangement was Edward Nott. During his brief 
administration, a new digest of the laws of Vir- 
ginia, which had been in preparation for several 
years by a committee of the council and burgesses, 
was reported to the assembly, and passed. 

Many of the provisions of this code relate to 
indented servants and slaves. All children were 
declared to be bond or free according to the con- 
dition of their mothers. Negroes, mulattoes, and 
Indians, were not allowed to purchase Christian 
servants. Servants not indentured, if over nine- 
teen, were to serve for five years ; if under nine- 
teen, then until the age of twenty-four. 

Every male servant completing his time of 
service, was entitled to receive, at his dismissal, 
ten bushels of Indian corn, thirty shillings in 



1710.] COLONEL SPOTSWOOD. 207 

money or goods, and one well-fixed musket or 
fusee, of the value of twenty shillings at the least. 
Every woman servant, on acquiring her freedom, 
could claim fifteen bushels of Indian corn, and 
forty shillings in money, or goods. 

Each county was allowed two burgesses, and 
Jamestown one, to be elected by the freeholders. 
All properly qualified persons neglecting to vote, 
were liable to a penalty of two hundred pounds 
of tobacco. The travelling expenses of the bur- 
gesses were graduated and defined. Those coming 
by land, receiving one hundred and thirty pounds 
of tobacco per day ; while such as came by wa- 
ter, received one hundred and twenty pounds. 

The twelve members of the council were to re- 
ceive three hundred and fifty pounds sterling, 
above sixteen hundred dollars, annually, to be 
proportioned among them according to the time 
of their attendance. Such were the most impor- 
tant provisions of the revised code of 1705. 

Governor Nott survived his appointment only 
one year ; in 1706 he died. The deputy-gover- 
norship was then given to Brigadier-generkl 
Hunter ; but he being captured by the French on 
his passage out, Edmund Jennings, president of 
the council, continued for four years to perform 
the duties of the office. 

In 1710, Colonel Alexander Spotswood, an 
officer of fine talents, urbane and conciliating in 
his manners, yet active and enterprising, arrived 



208 HISTORY OP VIRGINIA. [1711. 

in Virginia, bearing the commission of deputy- 
governor. 

He had been but a short time in the pro- 
vince before he organized an expedition to cross 
the Blue Ridge. This was successfully accom- 
plished. Spotswood, gallantly attended by a 
troop of horse, passed the mountains, which from 
the time of Berkeley had presented a barrier to 
the advance of the whites, and discovered the fine 
valley lying beyond. Although this exploration 
did not lead to any immediate result of import- 
ance, the service performed by Spotswood was 
considered of sufficient consequence to entitle 
him to the honour of knighthood. 

The thirteen years during which the latter held 
office as deputy-governor of Virginia, glided away 
in almost unruffled political tranquillity. 

In 1711 he wrote of his government, as being 
" in perfect peace and tranquillity, under a due 
obedience to the royal authority, and a gentle- 
manly conformity to the Church of England." 
Notwithstanding this hearty eulogy, Spotswood, 
in the course of his official career, several times 
found that councils could be stubborn, and assem- 
blies refractory. With one so desirous of pro- 
moting the best interests of the colony as the 
gallant deputy governor, the differences which 
occasionally arose between himself and his col- 
leagues, were never either very important, or of 
long continuance. Explanations and concessions 



1727.] GENERAL GOOCH. 209 

soon restored them to a mutually good under- 
standing, and the machinery of government again 
worked easily and harmoniously. 

In 1723, Spotswood was superseded in his office 
by Hugh Drysdale. During the four following 
years a general harmony and contentment pre- 
vailed throughout the province. In 1727 Drys- 
dale died, sincerely lamented by the assembly as 
a just and disinterested man. He was succeeded 
by Brigadier-general Gooch, under whose pro- 
longed administration, Virginia continued for 
many years to enjoy profound peace and unin- 
terrupted prosperity. 



18* 



210 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1723. 



CHAPTER XYIIL 

The Eastern provinces — War of 1689 — French territorial 
claims — 'Movements of Count Frontenac — Cocheco burned 
by Casteno — Pemaquid taken by the Penobscot Indians — 
Burning of Schenectady — Massacre at Salem Falls — Capture 
of the Casco Bay settlement — First American Congress — 
Unsuccessful attempt upon Quebec — Acadie invaded by Sir 
William Phipps — Expedition of Church — Villebon recaptures 
Port Royal — York destroyed by the French — Wells success- 
fully defended — Virginia votes five hundred pounds towards 
the defence of New York — Frontenac ravages the territory 
of the Five Nations — Success of D'Ibberville — Church rava- 
ges the French settlements — Burning of Haverhill and An- 
dover — Peace of Ryswick — Plan of co-operation foi the colo- 
nies — French construct a line of posts from Canada to 
Louisiana — Alarm of the English — Renewal of the war — 
French and Indian excesses — Surprise of Deerfield — Expe- 
dition against Acadie — Haverhill burned — Port Royal taken 
• — Inglorious expedition of Sir Hoveden Walker. 

But, while Virginia, with some restrictions 
upon her political freedom, had been for many 
years in the enjoyment of profound peace, the 
colonies to the eastward were, during the same 
period, the victims of several sanguinary episodes, 
originating from the revengeful character of the 
Northern Indians, and the jealousy of the Ca- 
nadian French. 

The European war of 1689, necessarily in- 
volved in a contest those colonies of France and 
England which were contiguous to each other. 
The French population of America was compara- 



1676.] GROUNDS OF CLAIM. 211 

tively small, being less than twelve thousand; 
but the French claims upon the territory of the 
North American continent were large, and quite 
as just as claims founded upon discovery usually 
are. Over Canada, Hudson's Bay, and New- 
foundland, the dominion of France had been 
successfully asserted ; while from the heroic ex- 
plorations of La Salle, Marquette, and numerous 
devoted missionaries, a claim had been set up to 
one-half of Maine and Vermont, to more than 
half of New York, to the whole valley of the 
Mississippi, and to Texas as far as the Rio Bravo 
del Norte. The claims of England rested upon 
the original discovery of the continent by the 
elder Cabot. The French were not in possession 
of any sea-coast or harbours, properly so called ; 
but had confined their plantations to the banks 
of the two great rivers, the St. Lawrence and 
the Mississippi ; the one running south, and the 
other nearly north, their sources being at no 
great distance from each other, and forming a 
line almost parallel to the sea-coast inhabited by 
the English. Up to this period very few of the 
latter had made settlements more than a hundred 
miles distant from the coast, although in point 
of numbers they were already, in comparison 
with the French, as twenty to one. 

No sooner did the existence of war between 
France and England become known in Canada, 
than Count Frontenac prepared for that memo- 



212 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1690, 

rable attempt upon New York, which was so 
signally frustrated by a sudden irruption of the 
Iroquois Indians, an irruption which carried 
terror and desolation to the very gates of Mon- 
treal. 

But if New York was thus unexpectedly saved 
from the horrors of invasion, the eastern provinces 
were less fortunate. The Penacook warriors, 
under the French leader Castine, fell suddenly 
upon the defenceless village of Cocheco, during 
the night of the twenty-seventh of June, 1689, 
killed three and twenty persons, burned several 
houses, and bore away through the wilderness 
twenty-nine captives. Incited by the Jesuit) 
JThury, the Penobscot Indians, to The number of 
a hundred warriors, paddled silently towards 
Pemaquid, another frontier English settlement, 
murdered such labourers as were found in the 
fields, assaulted the stockade fort, and, after an 
obstinate defence of two days, compelled the 
garrison to surrender themselves prisoners of war. 

In the midst of the winter of 1690, a party of 
one hundred and ten French and Indians marched 
from Montreal, waded through snows and mo- 
rasses for twenty-two days, and entered just 
before midnight the unguarded village of Sche- 
nectady, a Dutch settlement on the Mohawk, set 
the houses on fire, and then roused the inhabi- 
tants from their slumbers with the shrill and 
fearful sound of the savage whoop. Sixty were 



1690.] FRENCH EXPEDITIONS. 213 

massacred, of whom seventeen were children, and 
ten Africans. 

Towards the close of March, another French 
war party, led by the inhuman Hertel, after 
crossing the mountains and threading the forests 
of New Hampshire, attacked by surprise the 
frontier village at Salmon Falls ; killed most of 
the male inhabitants, and carried off as prisoners 
fifty-four persons, nearly all of whom were 
women and children. These were burdened 
with the spoils taken from their own homes. 
One aged man the savages burned on the way by 
a slow fire. Mary Ferguson, a girl of fifteen, 
was scalped because she wept from fatigue ; and 
of two infants, one was dashed against a tree, 
and the other thrown into the river, that their 
wretched mothers, thus relieved of their precious 
burdens, might not delay the rapid movement 
of the victors. 

While thus returning, laden with prisoners 
and spoils, Hertel met a third detachment sent 
out by Frontenac, and a junction of forces being 
agreed upon, they proceeded to attack the fort 
and settlement at Casco Bay. A part of the 
garrison was decoyed into an ambuscade, and 
cut off almost to a man. The remainder held 
out until their palisades were about to be fired, 
when they surrendered on terms as prisoners of 
war. 

This new and terrible mode of warfare, wherein 



214 HISTORY OP VIRGINIA. [1690. 

Indian ferocity was guided by French skill and 
enterprise, admonished the English colonies of 
the necessity of joining together and making 
common cause against the French Canadians, 
and their barbarous allies. 

Out of this necessity originated the first 
American Congress, which met at New York on 
the first day of May, 1690. Massachusetts had 
taken the initiative by addressing circular letters 
to all the colonies as far south as Maryland ; 
inviting them to send commissioners to New 
York, to agree upon some concerted plan of ope- 
rations. Delegates from Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, and New York met accordingly, and 
arrangements were entered into, by which, while 
Massachusetts despatched a fleet and army 
against Quebec by water, nine hundred men 
from Connecticut and New York were to march 
overland against Montreal. Owing to the inde- 
fatigable exertions of Count Frontenac, and the 
warlike alacrity of his savage allies, both these 
expeditions terminated disastrously. An enter- 
prise previously undertaken by Massachusetts 
had met with better success. A fleet of nine 
small vessels, containing between seven and eight 
hundred men, had been sent against Acadie, now 
known as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 

The command of this fleet was entrusted to 
Sir William Phipps, who has made his name 
famous in the history of America for his success- 



1691.] FRONTIER WARFARE. 215 

ful recovery of an immense treasure from a 
Spanish wreck, on the coast of St. Domingo. 
Phipps conquered with great ease the French 
settlements in Acadie, and brought away with 
him sufficient plunder to pay the whole expense 
of the expedition. 

In the mean time, Colonel Church, a provin- 
cial officer of great ability, marched against the 
eastern Indians, destroyed their settlements on 
the Androscoggin, and, for the sake of example, 
put a number of his prisoners to death, not spar- 
ing even women or children. 

The retaliation of the eastern tribes was im- 
mediate. A frontier warfare was kept up inces- 
santly during the whole of 1691. Many of the 
towns in Maine were abandoned entirely, and all 
of them suffered more or less. 

The French also were again in motion. Ville- 
bon, with one small vessel of war, retook Port 
Royal, where Phipps had left a garrison, and 
stimulated the fierce animosity of the eastern In- 
dians by timely presents and frequent supplies 
of arms and ammunition. The village of York, 
in Maine, was suddenly attacked by a party of 
French and Indians, and suffered a loss of 
seventy-five in killed, and an equal number car- 
ried off prisoners to Canada. The town of Wells 
was more fortunate ; the inhabitants being ap- 
prised in time of the coming danger, successfully 



216 HISTORY OP VIRGINIA. [1694. 

encountered their enemies and beat them off with 
loss. 

The extensive frontier of New York offering 
at all times great facilities to invasion from 
Canada, five companies of regular troops were 
sent from England, in 1694, to assist in its 
defence, and a definite quota of men and money 
required by the English government to be con- 
tributed by each province in case of urgent ne- 
cessity. The Indian war still continuing, a 
council was held at Albany, in August 1694, 
with the chiefs of the Five Nations, for the pur- 
pose of securing the latter from the insidious in- 
fluence of the French. Deputies from Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, 
were present at this council. In 1695, the assem- 
bly of Virginia reluctantly voted five hundred 
pounds sterling toward the defence of New York ; 
but requested of the crown to be excused from 
making any further grants. The aversion of the 
middle and southern provinces to advance their 
quotas for the conduct of the war, caused it to 
languish on the part of the English, who thereby 
gave the energetic French governor an opportu- 
nity to ravage the territory of the Onondagos 
and Oneidas, always the faithful allies of the 
English, by which they were compelled to sue for 
peace. 

D'Ibberville, who had previously distinguished 
himself by a descent upon the English settle- 



1697.] PEACE. 217 

ments at Hudson's Bay, captured the Massachu- 
setts fort at Pemaquid, and broke up entirely 
the plantations at that neighbourhood. He next 
proceeded to Newfoundland, where he took the 
fort of St. John's, and captured several inferior 
posts scattered over that Island. From thence 
he proceeded to Hudson's Bay, where he recap- 
tured a fort previously taken by the English, and 
made prizes of two English vessels. 

The veteran Church retaliated by leading an 
expedition against the French settlements on the 
bay of Fundy. He succeeded in driving the in- 
habitants from Beau Bassin, in burning their 
houses, and in destroying their cattle ; but he 
failed in his attempt to recapture the fort of St. 
John's, Newfoundland. 

Flushed with the successes of the French, their 
savage allies, during the winter of 1697, pene- 
trated to within twenty-five miles of Boston, and 
made successful assaults upon the towns of Ha- 
verhill and Andover, murdering many of the 
inhabitants, and leading others prisoners into 
Canada. 

The treaty of peace between England and 
France, which was signed at Ryswick, in Septem- 
ber, 1697, at length put an end to the war that 
had so long desolated the colonial frontiers, 
while it gave to each nation, possession of all the 
places respectively held at the commencement of 
hostilities. 

19 



218 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1697. 

The terrible struggle through which the more 
exposed colonies had passed, naturally urged the 
adoption for the future of some system of co-ope- 
ration by which all the colonies should contribute 
proportionately toward the common defence. 
The Board of Trade — which had recently been 
organized in London for the purpose of supervi- 
sing colonial affairs — suggested the propriety of 
commissioning a captain-general for the colonies, 
who should receive his appointment from the 
king, and be vested with full powers to call out 
and command, the colonial militia. A counter- 
project, proposed by William Penn, though laid 
aside soon after, with the less popular plan of the 
Board of Trade, is peculiarly interesting as being 
in substance similar to the one adopted by the 
colonies, when, at a subsequent period, they de- 
termined to resist taxation by the English go- 
vernment. Penn proposed a Colonial Congress 
of twenty members, to be chosen annually by the 
assemblies, with a president to be named by the 
king, the Congress to be empowered during war 
to provide for the common defence, and in peace, 
to regulate commerce and adjust colonial disputes. 

No sooner was the peace of Ryswick proclaim- 
ed, than the French turned their attention to 
securing, by garrisons, their claims to that vast 
territory which had been so hardily explored by 
La Salle and the adventurous missionaries; and 
in a short time a line of fortified posts was ex- 



1705.] WAR. 219 

tended between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 
the Gulf of Mexico. These territorial preten- 
sions were not viewed, either in England or the 
colonies, without jealousy and alarm. The esta- 
blishment of a fort by D'Ibberville, at the head 
of the Bay of Biloxi, in Louisiana, led to a me- 
morial from Coxe, one of the proprietors of New 
Jersey, to the English king, praying that the set- 
tlement on the banks of the Mississippi might be 
encouraged. 

So acceptable was the substance of this peti- 
tion, that on its presentation William of Orange 
declared to his council, he " would leap over 
twenty stumbling-blocks rather than not eflfect 
it." 

In 1701, war again broke out. It originated 
with the accession of a member of the Bourbon 
family to the throne of Spain. England had, 
therefore, on this occasion two nations opposed 
to her, and the southern provinces were now to 
be assailed by the Spaniards in Florida, while 
the French, of Canada and Acadie, continued 
their depredations on the eastern frontiers. An 
unsuccessful attempt made by Moore, the gover- 
nor of South Carolina, against the Spanish town 
of St. Augustine, was tne commencement of hos- 
tilities in that quarter. A new expedition took 
place in 1705, against the Spanish Indian set- 
tlements of the Apalachees. The villages were 
plundered, the churches robbed and burned, and 



220 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1707. 

the Indians, to the number of two thousand, 
removed to the banks of the Alatamaha. 

In the meanwhile, the French were already 
desolating the frontiers of New England. On 
the 10th of August, 1703, detached parties of 
French and Indians assaulted, simultaneously, 
every settlement between Casco and Wells ; 
sparing in their barbarous warfare, neither age 
nor infancy. In March, 1704, two hundred Ca- 
nadians, and one hundred and fifty Indians, led 
by Hertelle de Rouville, marched over the snow 
from Canada, and fell suddenly upon the picketed 
village of Deersfield, then the northwestern fron- 
tier town of New England. In the early gray of 
morning, just as the sentinels had retired, they 
entered the palisades, rendered useless by the 
drifted snow, and raising the war-whoop, set the 
village in flames. But few of the inhabitants 
escaped, forty-seven were killed, and upwards of 
one hundred others, including the minister and 
his family, were taken captives. Then com- 
menced, through that bitter wintry weather, the 
long, weary march to Canada. Two of the pri- 
soners died of starvation by the way ; while weak 
women and sorrowing children met their death by 
the tomahawk. A desultory warfare succeeded, 
and Massachusetts called upon the neighbouring 
colonies for assistance. A brief truce followed; 
but in 1707 the war was renewed. Another 
descent upon Acadie being determined on, a thou- 



1710.] INDIAN WAR. 221 

sand men under Colonel March, sailed for Port 
Rojal, and, supported by an English frigate, 
entered the river and landed before the town. 
This unfortunate settlement was again entirely 
destroyed ; the houses were burned, the cattle 
killed, and the corn drowned by making openings 
in the embankments which protected the rich flats 
from the encroachments of the river. Being un- 
provided with heavy artillery, March retired to 
his vessels without attempting to assault the fort. 

In retaliation for this foray, Hertelle de Rou- 
ville entered the valley of the Merrimac, and 
attacked Haverhill, the frontier settlement on that 
river. Assisted by his Indian allies, he plundered 
and burned the town, slew between forty and fifty 
of the inhabitants, led oif as many more into cap- 
tivity, and, though hotly pursued, succeeded in 
reaching Canada with the greater portion of his 
prisoners. 

In 1710, Port Royal was again made the object 
of attack. Five hundred warriors and four regi- 
ments of militia from New England, under the 
command of Nicholson, the former governor of 
Virginia, sailed to attack the fort which March 
had not the means of assaulting with success. It 
was an easy conquest. The French garrison, 
feeble and mutinous, surrendered upon terms. 
Vetch, the second in command, was left with four 
hundred men to garrison the fort, which was soon 
after besieged by the Acadiens and Indians. 

19* 



222 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1711. 

The following year, the English government 
fitted out a large fleet and army for the conquest 
of Canada. The command of this fleet, which 
consisted of fifteen ships of war, and forty trans- 
ports, was given to Sir Hoveden Walker. Briga- 
dier-general Masham was appointed to lead the 
troops, which comprised seven veteran regiments, 
and a battalion of marines. ' Through the inca- 
pacity of the admiral, this expedition — which was 
destined to attack Quebec, while a land force 
from Albany assaulted Montreal — ended in a 
most disastrous failure. On the 22d of August, 
eight of the vessels were wrecked in a fog among 
the Egg Islands of the St. Lawrence, and eight 
hundred and eighty-four men were drowned. Con- 
gratulating himself that, by this loss, he had been 
saved from venturing to Quebec, where the lives 
of many others might have been seriously jeopar- 
dized. Walker ordered the remaining vessels to 
put back ; and in this shameful and inglorious 
manner ended an expedition, from which the most 
splendid results had been confidently anticipated. 



1713.] TREATY OF UTRECHT. 223 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Treaty of Utrecht — Population of the Colonies — Absence of 
towns in Virginia — Crown Point taken possession of by the 
French — Communication between Canada and Louisiana — 
First newspaper in Virginia — War with Spain — Disastrous 
expedition to Carthagena — War with France — Capture of 
Louisburg — Treaty of Aix la Chapelle — Progress of A^irginia 
— Rehgious intolerance — Capitol at WiUiamsburg burned — 
Close of Gooch's administration — Evidences of affectionate 
regard — Character of Gooch — Ohio Company — French claims 
— Opposite claims of the British — Brownsville founded — 
French posts established in the vicinity of the Ohio — Orders 
from England — Dinwiddle appointed Governor of Virginia — 
His purchase from the Indians — Back settlements of Virginia 
threatened by the French — A messenger despatched by Din- 
widdle to ascertain their intentions — Virginia instructed to 
build two forts on the Ohio — George Washington — His early 
life and character. 

The treaty of Utrecht in 1713, put an end to 
the second intercolonial war. On the battle fields 
of Europe, England had covered herself with 
glory, humbled the pride of the haughty Louis, 
and added fifty millions of pounds sterling to her 
national debt. Under the terms of the treaty, 
France ceded to England the territory of Hud- 
son's Bay, the whole of New Foundland and 
Acadie, and the French part of the Island of St. 
Kitts, in the West Indies. 

But, however distressing the second intercolo- 
nial war may have been to those families which 



224 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1731. 

settled the frontier towns, it had not checked in 
any considerable degree the increase of popula- 
tion. In 1715, the table compiled for the use of 
the Board of Trade, exhibited the whole popula- 
tion of the twelve colonies as four hundred and 
thirty-four thousand and six hundred. Virginia 
alone contained ninety-five thousand inhabitants, 
and yet there was not at this time, nor for many 
years after, any collection of houses in the whole 
province worthy to be dignified with the name of 
a town. In 1728, Norfolk was but a small 
commercial village, while Richmond was not 
founded until 1742, and at the commencement 
of the Revolution contained but a few straggling 
houses. 

In 1729, two years after Gooch was appointed 
Governor of Virginia, a printing press was brought 
into the province, and in 1735, the first news- 
paper ever published in Virginia, was issued at 
Williamsburg. 

No further interruption of consequence was 
experienced by the colonists until the year 1731, 
when the French sailed up Lake Champlain, and 
took possession of Crown Point, within one hun- 
dred miles of Albany. New York immediately 
sent a notice of this daring encroachment to the 
neighbouring states, and requested aid from Eng- 
land. But Walpole was resolutely bent on pre- 
serving peace, and the French were allowed to 
establish the new settlement without molestation. 



1740.] WAR WITH SPAIN. 225 

The building of a fort at Niagara was regarded 
with an equal indiiference. 

As yet no French traders had approached the 
back settlements of Pennsylvania or Virginia. 
The easy communication existing between Lake 
Erie and the head waters of the Ohio appears at 
this time to have been unknown, the Wabash 
being regarded by the French as the main stream, 
to which the Ohio was but a tributary. Owing 
to an imperfect geographical knowledge of 
that region, the connection between Canada 
and Louisiana was kept up by the distant routes 
of Green Bay and Wisconsin, and subsequently, 
by way of the Maumee and the Wabash. When, 
however, the true character of the Ohio river be- 
came known, the facilities by which its waters 
could be reached from Lake Erie, tempted the 
French to fortify a post upon its banks, and by 
this means brought them into collision for the 
first time with the Virginians. This did not hap- 
pen, however, until some years later. As yet, 
the vast region lying between the Ohio river and 
the great lakes remained a terra incognita to both 
nations. 

In 1740, England having been forced into a 
war with Spain, all the North American colonies 
w^ere called upon to aid in raising a regiment of 
thirty-five hundred men. The Assembly of Vir- 
ginia responded to the call by increasing the duty 
on imported slaves to ten per cent., and by im- 



226 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1740. 

pressing the men of her quota from among the 
able-bodied idlers of the province. 

The American levies were taken on board the 
fleet of Admiral Vernon, who sailed soon after 
from Jamaica to the assault of Carthagena, the 
strongest place in Spanish America. The result 
was melancholy in the extreme. 

The attack, owing to diff"erences between the 
military and naval commanders, was badly 
planned, and worse conducted. Some of the 
fortresses were taken, but that of San Lazaro, 
which commanded the town, was successfully de- 
fended by the Spaniards. The rainy season 
setting in soon after, the soldiers died by thou- 
sands, of the yellow fever. Vernon destroyed the 
fortifications, and retired to Jamaica. His entire 
losses were estimated at twenty thousand men. 
Of the troops furnished by the colonies, which, 
including five hundred additional men subse- 
quently furnished by Massachusetts, amounted to 
four thousand, only four hundred returned to their 
homes. 

The Spaniards thus triumphantly freed from 
an expedition, the magnitude of which had been 
a well grounded source of alarm, now retaliated 
by precipitating a large force upon the infant 
province of Georgia. By the signal ability of 
General Oglethorpe the invaders were repulsed, 
and after failing in their attack on Frederica, 



1744.] CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG. 227 

they hurriedly re-embarked on board their ves- 
sels, and returned to Cuba. 

The war with France against Austria, speedily 
involved England, as the ally of the latter. In 
1744, France again declared war with England. 
The first intimation received by the colonies of 
the recommencement of hostilities in North Ame- 
rica, was the capture of Fort Canso, in Nova 
Scotia, by a party of Canadians. At the same 
time the Indians began to lay desolate the fron- 
tiers of Maine. 

Shirley, the Governor of Massachusetts, im- 
mediately bestirred himself. The legislature of 
the province determined by a majority of one vote 
to attempt the capture of Louisburg, the strong- 
est fortress north of the Gulf of Mexico. New 
York and Pennsylvania sent supplies of artillery 
and provisions. The New England provinces fur- 
nished the necessary troops. Assisted by the 
British squadron, under Commodore Warren, the 
forces from New England, after a siege of six 
weeks, compelled the garrison to capitulate, and 
the inhabitants of Cape Breton immediately ac- 
knowledged allegiance to England. 

The news of this important success was rapidly 
conveyed by expresses to the governors of the 
various English colonies. Virginia at once gene- 
rously threw open her ports for the purposes of 
trade, free of all duty, to vessels sailing from the 
newly acquired island of Cape Breton, and the 



228 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1748. 

governor despatched to Louisburg, for the use of 
the garrison, provisions to the value of two thou- 
sand pounds. 

But the war which had been thus recommenced, 
was carried on languidly by both nations, and in 
America had only affected the extreme frontiers, 
when it was brought to a close in 1748, by the 
treaty of Aix la Chapelle. 

Four years previous to this, while the New 
England provinces were preparing for the expe- 
dition to Louisburg, Virginia was extending her 
borders by a treaty with deputies from the Six 
Nations. For about four hundred pounds, a deed 
was obtained from the chiefs of the Iroquois, to 
all the territory beyond the mountains, that was 
then, or should be hereafter considered bv the 
King of England as belonging to the colony of 
Virginia. 

Subject to none of those hostile invasions by 
which the peace of the extreme north and south 
had been so often disturbed, the population of 
Virginia continued steadily to increase, until at 
length her settlements extended beyond the moun- 
tains west of the blue ridge. 

The attachment of the Virginians to the doc- 
trines of the Church of England had frequently 
rendered them intolerant of the religious tenets 
of others. Even the mild, gentlemanly, and ex- 
emplary Gooch, was not free from this narrow 
spirit. In his address to the grand jury in April, 



1746.] BURNINa OF THE CAPITOL. 229 

1745, he recommended to their attention certain 
false teachers lately crept into the province, who, 
without order or license, or producing any testi- 
monial of their education, or sect, had <' led the 
innocent and ignorant people into all kinds of 
delusion." How far the presentments of the 
grand jury conformed to the spirit of this address 
has not been ascertained ; but that the worthy, 
though prejudiced governor, expressed the senti- 
ments of a great majority of the Virginians of that 
day, there does not exist the shadow of a doubt. 

During the year following, the public buildings 
at Williamsburg being reduced to ashes, the sub- 
ject began to be agitated of removing the seat of 
government to some point more advantageously 
situated in the heart, rather than near the ex- 
tremity of the province. 

The members of the Assembly entered warmly 
upon the subject of removal, and in a speech to 
the governor eulogized the foundation of a new 
central city in the most glowing terms. " To lay 
the foundation of a new city," said they, <'to 
raise a capitol in a place commodiously situated 
for navigation, will complete the glory of your 
administration, and transmit your name with the 
highest lustre to future ages. With what pleasure 
may we then extend our view through future 
centuries, and anticipate the happiness provided 
for posterity." 

This very respectful, but somewhat inflated lan- 

20 



230 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1749. 

guage, had no effect on the old governor. The best 
houses in Williamsburg were owned by himself, 
by the members of his council, and by gentlemen 
of importance in the colony. This property would 
necessarily diminish in value by the proposed 
change. The influence of the college, and that 
of other officers of government, was also thrown 
into the scale of opposition, so that Williamsburg, 
notwithstanding many wordy altercations, re- 
mained the capital of the province up to the 
period of the Revolutionary war. 

In 1749, the administration of Gooch, which for 
upwards of twenty-two years had been of the most 
courteous character, was terminated by his de- 
parture for England. The sixth and last colonial 
revisal of the Virginia code took place only a 
short time previous to his leaving the province. 

When Governor Gooch was about to set sail, 
he was honoured by the president and council 
with an address significant of their profound ap- 
preciation of the many blessings they had enjoyed 
under his wise and benificent government, and 
their sincere respect for his public and private 
virtues. The collegiate authorities of William 
and Mary, and the municipality of Williamsburg 
expressed a similar sense of his merits, and the 
good old governor finally embarked amidst the 
tears and benedictions of the people, among whom 
he had lived so long, and over whom he had ex- 



1750.] THE OHIO COMPANY. 231 

ercised a sway that might justly be regarded as 
paternal. 

The courtesy of Governor Gooch has been 
handed down to the present time in the shape of an 
anecdote, which well illustrates the character of 
a true gentleman. Having been reproached one 
day for returning the salutation of a negro, Gooch 
replied mildly, «' I should be much ashamed that 
a negro should have better manners than I." A 
baronetcy was the reward of his long and faithful 
services to a province whose people always spoke 
of him with aftection, and justly regarded him as 
one of their warmest and most steadfast friends. 

The government now devolved on Robinson, 
the president of the council ; but on his death a 
few days afterward, Thomas Lee, as president, 
succeeded to the administration. 

During the brief deputy-governorship of Lee, 
surveyors were permitted to measure and locate 
lands on the other side of the mountains, pro- 
vided they did not interfere with grants made to 
the Ohio Company. Before November, 1750, the 
period to which the Assembly stood prorogued, 
Lee died, and was succeeded by Lewis Burwell. 

The Ohio Company, of which mention has al- 
ready been made, consisted of an association of 
London merchants and Virginia land speculators. 
This company had obtained in England, shortly 
after the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, a grant of 
six hundred thousand acres of land, on the east 



232 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1752. 

branch of the Ohio river, greatly to the indigna- 
tion of the French, who claimed by right of dis- 
covery the entire region watered by the Missis- 
sippi and its tributaries. The British opposed to 
the claims of the French those of the Six Nations, 
who asserted the territory to have become theirs 
by right of conquest, and had already sold a 
portion of it to Virginia under that title. The 
French pointed to the numerous posts and garri- 
sons, more than sixty in number, which they had 
maintained on the lakes, the Mississippi, and the 
Wabash, for a number of years. Their title was 
complete enough to the country on the upper 
lakes, the Mississippi, the Illinois, and the Wa- 
bash, while to render it valid to the territory 
immediately south of Lake Erie, the Count de la 
Galisonnidre, Governor-general of Canada, de- 
spatched an officer with three hundred men, to 
spread themselves over the country lying between 
Detroit and the Cumberland Mountains, to bury 
at the most important points leaden plates, en- 
graved with the arms of France, to take posses- 
sion of the territory with a formal process verbal, 
and to warn English traders out of the country. 
In 1752, the Ohio Company built a trading 
house and fort at Brownsville, on the Mononga- 
hela. This act gave great offence to the French, 
who made a descent upon the Miami Indians, 
settled at Sandusky, and burned their village be- 
cause they persisted in trading with the English. 



1752.] HOSTILE INDICATIONS. 233 

Early in 1753, twelve hundred men from Mon- 
treal built a fort at Presque Isle, on the southern 
shore of Lake Erie, and then, moving southward, 
established posts on French Creek, and the main 
stream of the Alleghany. 

The Board of Trade reported these encroach- 
ments upon Pennsylvania and Virginia to the 
king, and orders were immediately sent to the 
colonial governors to repel force by force, when- 
ever the French were found within the undoubted 
limits of their provinces. 

During the year 1752, Robert Dinwiddie, pre- 
viously a member of the council, and surveyor- 
general of the colonial customs^ succeeded Bur- 
well as deputy-governor of Virginia. Conscious 
that the movements of the French toward the 
upper waters of the Ohio, seriously threatened 
the back settlements of Virginia, Dinwiddie pur- 
chased from the Indians on the Monongahela 
permission to build a fort at the junction of that 
river with the Alleghany. Tidings reaching the 
capital of Virginia soon after, that the French 
were about to establish fortifications on the Ohio, 
and that the Indian tribes in the surrounding 
region exhibited symptoms of hostility, it was 
thought necessary to send a messenger over the 
mountains, with instructions to ascertain the tem- 
per and designs of the Indians, and to make him- 
self acquainted with the movements and inten- 
tions of the French. The first messenger sent 

20* 



234 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1752. 

out, failing to execute his mission perfectly^ and 
orders having, in the mean time, reached Gover- 
nor Dinwiddie from England to build two forts on 
the Ohio, for which artillery and ammunition had 
been sent out, it was thought advisable to send 
a commissioner in due form, and invested with 
proper credentials, to confer with the officer in 
command of the French forces ; to ascertain under 
what authority he was acting, and what were his 
ulterior desio-ns. This delicate and dancrerous 
mission was entrusted to George "Washington, the 
eldest son of a widowed mother, a surveyor by 
profession ; and although at this time but twenty- 
one years of age, already distinguished for his 
judgment and capacity, and the purity of his 
moral character. Born on the old ancestral do- 
main in Westmoreland county, he was removed 
in infancy to the banks of the Rappahannock, 
where he became an orphan in his eleventh year. 
In 1743, his father, Augustine Washington, a 
farmer in affluent circumstances, died, leaving a 
competent provision for his widow and children. 
Growing up thus under the care of his mother, 
the youthful Washington, whose name was soon 
to become a household word in the history of a 
great nation, received only such common educa- 
tion as the indifferent schools of the neighbour- 
hood at that time afforded. To read, to write, 
and to cipher, composed the whole of his know- 
ledge. To add to the means derived from his 



1752.] WASHINGTON. 235 

paternal estate, he studied the lucrative profession 
of a surveyor, and at the age of sixteen entered 
upon its arduous and toilsome duties in the rich 
valleys of the Alleghany mountains. 

The careful accuracy with which these his earliest 
surveys were made soon brought him into notice, 
and established his reputation. The following 
year he received a commission as a public survey- 
or,, and passed the three subsequent years among 
the southern branches of the Potomac river, and 
the spurs and ridges of the Alleghanies. In ad- 
dition to this employment, he had been appointed, 
at the age of nineteen, military inspector of one 
of the districts into which the province was di- 
vided, with the rank of major ; a commission 
which must have been peculiarly gratifying to 
one whose military predilections had always been 
of the strongest character, and had hitherto only 
been subdued by the force of prudential conside- 
rations. 

It was while engaged in the performance of 
the duties belonging to this office, that Major 
Washington was selected by Dinwiddle to proceed 
to the French posts in the vicinity of the Ohio. 

His instructions were to travel without delay 
to the Ohio river. To halt at a place called 
Logstown, and after convening some of the prin- 
cipal Indian chiefs of the vicinity, to learn where 
the French were stationed, and obtain an escort 
of warriors to that point. On his arrival at the 



236 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1753. 

principal French post, he was to present his cre- 
dentials, and demand an answer. He was also to 
make secret inquiry into the number of French 
troops, and the prospect of reinforcements from 
Canada ; what forts they had erected, how they 
were garrisoned, and their distances from each 
other. 

Furnished with a passport, and these instruc- 
tions, Washington left Williamsburg on the thirty- 
first of October, 1753. The distance he had to 
traverse was nearly six hundred miles, a great 
part over lofty and rugged mountains, and more 
than half of the way through wild forests, never 
trodden before by any human feet but those of 
the white hunter and the wandering savage. 



1753 ] WASHINGTON'S MISSION. 237 



CHAPTER XX. 

Mission of Washington to the Ohio — Reaches Will's Creek — 
Halts at the Forks of the Ohio — Holds a conference with In- 
dians at Logstown — Delivers his letter and credentials to the 
French commandant — His return — Is shot at by an Indian — 
His peril in crossing the Alleghany river — Arrives at Wil- 
liamsburg — Increase of the provincial army — Washington 
appointed lieutenant-colonel — Marches to Will's Creek — The 
French drive off the troops at the Forks of the Ohio, and 
build Fort Duquesne — Skirmish at Great Meadows — Death 
of Jumonville, and capture of his party — Fort Necessity 
ei-ected — Invested by the French — The Virginians capitulate 
on terms — Washington resigns his commission and retires to 
private life — 'Arrival of General Braddock with troops from 
England — Is joined by Washington as a volunteer — March 
of the army — Crossing of the Alleghanies — Defeat of Brad- 
dock on the banks of the Monongahela — Death of Braddock 
— Heroism of the Virginia troops — Retreat of the army to 
Cumberland. 

Accompanied by John Davidson, an Indian 
interpreter, and Jacob Vanbraam, engaged in 
consequence of his knowledge of the French lan- 
guage, Major Washington, travelling by way of 
Fredericksburg, Alexandria, and Winchester, 
reached Will's Creek in fourteen days. At this 
point Fort Cumberland was subsequently erected. 
Here he was joined by Mr. Gist, a person well 
acquainted with the route to the Ohio river, who 
consented to act as guide. Four attendants, two 
of whom were Indian traders, were also added to 
the party. 



238 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1T53. 

From the frontier station of Will's Creek, 
Washington and his party passed over the Alle- 
ghanies, already covered with snow. The swollen 
and turbulent streams that intercepted their way, 
were crossed by means of rafts, or by swimming 
their horses. When they reached the junction 
of the Monongahela with the Alleghany, the 
point at which Dinwiddle had, by purchase of the 
Indians, obtained the right to build a fort, Wash- 
ington narrowly examined the ground, and on his 
return home reported to the governor his opinion 
of its advantages as a military post. Upon his 
recommendation a fort was subsequently com- 
menced on the site then chosen, the walls of which 
were in the slow process of erection, when the 
workmen were driven off by the advance of the 
French. 

Proceeding thence, on the main purpose of his 
mission, to Logstown, twenty miles below the 
forks of the Ohio, as the point of junction between 
the Monongahela and the Alleghany was at that 
time called, Washington held a conference with 
some of the neighbouring Indian chiefs, and re- 
quested a guard of friendly warriors to the near- 
est French post. The principal sachem, Tana- 
charison, and four other Indians, finally agreed 
to accompany him. 

The head- quarters of the French commandant 
were one hundred and twenty miles distant, but 
at the nearer outpost of Venango, Washington 



1753.] WASHINGTON'S RETURN. 239 

was treated with civility by Captain Joncaire, 
and directed on his way, although many subtle 
efforts were made to detach the Indians from his 
service. 

At the end of forty-one days from the time of his 
leaving Williamsburg, Washington found himself 
in the presence of M. de St. Pierre, the French 
commandant, to whom he presented his commis- 
sion, and the letter of Governor Dinwiddle. The 
reply of the commandant was courteous but de- 
cided. In all that he had done, he said, having 
acted under the instructions of the Marquis Du 
Quesne, Governor of Canada, the summons to 
retire could not be complied with. 

His mission being thus fulfilled, Washington, 
sending his horses overland, embarked with the 
rest of his companions, in a canoe, and floated 
down French Creek, through drifting ice, to the 
outpost of Venango, a distance of one hundred 
and thirty miles, which was accomplished with 
diflBculty in six days, they being at one time 
obliged to avoid the packed ice, by carrying the 
heavy canoe across a neck of land a quarter of a 
mile over. 

The embarrassment of the journey, owing to 
the ruggedness of the way, and the inclemency 
of the wintry weather, at length determined 
W^ashington to proceed on foot, clad in an Indian 
walking dress, and bearing on his back a knap- 
sack containing his papers and food. Mr. Gist 



240 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1753. 

accompanied Mm, equipped in a similar manner. 
On the south-east fork of Beaver Creek, the 
travellers met with an Indian, who called Gist 
by his name, and who on being asked tlie nearest 
route to the forks of the Alleghany, consented to 
act as a guide. He relieved Major Washington 
of his knapsack, and for eight or ten miles 
travelled with them, when Washington, growing 
weary and foot-sore, desired to encamp. The 
Indian then offered to carry his gun, but this 
being prudently declined, he grew churlish, and 
advised them to keep on until they reached his 
cabin, as there were Ottowa Indians in the wood 
who would scalp them if they lay out. 

With increasing distrust of their savage guide, 
the travellers proceeded two miles further, when 
Washington declared his determination to halt 
at the next water. As soon as they reached an 
open clearing, the Indian paused suddenly, 
turned about at a distance of fifteen paces, and 
fired. Fortunately, both Washington and his 
companion remained unharmed. Gist immedi- 
ately took the treacherous savage prisoner, and 
would have killed him, but for the humane inter- 
position of Washington, who kept him a close 
prisoner until nine o'clock that evening, and 
then set him free. He had no sooner bounded 
fairly out of sight than the travellers set a com- 
pass, and having fixed their course, walked briskly 



1753.] PERIL OF WASHINGTON. 241 

all night to put themselves beyond reach of 
pursuit. 

The next afternoon, at dusk, they reached the 
Alleghany, a little above Shannopins. From 
want of means to cross the river they were com- 
pelled to encamp on its banks, with no other 
covering but their blankets to protect them from 
the snow. 

When the morning came, there was no way of 
getting over but on a raft ; which they set about 
constructing, with but one poor hatchet, and 
finished just after sunsetting. This was a whole 
day's work. Launching the raft at once, they 
stepped on board, and immediately pushed from 
the shore. They had scarcely reached the mid- 
dle of the river before they were jammed in the 
ice, in such a manner that they expected every 
moment the raft would sink. To save them- 
selves from this danger, Washington put out his 
setting pole, and attempted to stop the raft 
until the ice should pass by ; but the rapidity of 
the stream threw the raft with so much violence 
against the pole, that he was jerked off into ten 
feet water. Fortunately, he saved himself by 
catching hold of one of the raft logs. Notwith- 
standing all their efforts, they could not reach 
either shore, but were compelled to desert their 
raft, and take refuge on an island in the river. 
On this desolate spot, chilled, helpless, and 
suffering dreadfully from frozen feet and hands, 

21 



242 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1754. 

they passed the night. With the dawn of morn- 
ing the prospect of escape opened. The ice in 
the river had congealed sufficiently strong to bear 
their weight, and passing over without accident, 
they finally reached the trading post of a Mr. 
Frazier, on the Monongahela. After remaining 
there three days to recruit their strength, and 
procure horses, they recrossed the Alleghanies 
to Will's Creek. At this point Washington parted 
with Mr. Gist, and continued his journey alone to 
Williamsburg, where he arrived on the 16th of 
January, 1754, after an absence of eleven weeks. 
Dinwiddle immediately convened the assembly. 
The report of Washington placing the intentions 
of the French beyond doubt, the burgesses 
granted ten thousand pounds towards the defence 
of the frontiers, but encroached upon the pre- 
rogative of the governor by appointing a com- 
mittee to supervise the expenditure of the money. 
Dinwiddle was excessively annoyed at the inde- 
pendent spirit displayed by the assembly on this 
occasion. Writing subsequently to the Earl of 
Holdernesse, he says, " I am sorry to find them 
very much in a republican way of thinking ; and 
indeed they do not act in a proper constitutional 
way, but make encroachments on the prerogative 
of the crown, to which some former governors 
have submitted too much to them ; and I fear, 
without a very particular instruction, it will be 
difficult to bring them to order." 



1754.] ADVANCE OF THE FRENCH. 243 

The military force of Virginia was speedily in- 
creased to six hundred men. Of this regiment, 
Joshua Fry was appointed colonel, and Washing- 
ton lieutenant-colonel. Three independent com- 
panies of colonial troops, in the pay of Great 
Britain, and commanded by officers holding com- 
missions from the crown, were ordered from New 
York and South Carolina, to assist in the opera- 
tions against the enemy ; while North Carolina 
voted twelve thousand pounds, and promised to 
send a body of troops as early as they could be 
enlisted. 

During the early part of April, 1754, Wash- 
ington, whose head-quarters had been at Alex- 
andria, marched from that place with two compa- 
nies — subsequently reinforced on his route by a 
third — to Will's Creek, where he arrived on the 
20th of the same month. 

A party of forty-one men under Captain Trent, 
had already been thrown forward to the forks 
of the Ohio, where they commenced building the 
fort which AVashington had previously recom- 
mended should be constructed at that place. The 
latter had scarcely reached Will's Creek, before 
he received intelligence that a body of French 
troops, to the number of one thousand men, had 
descended the river from Venango, with eighteen 
pieces of cannon, sixty batteaux, and three hun- 
dred canoes, under the command of Captain Con- 
trecoeur ; had taken forcible possession of the 



244 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1754. 

unfinished fort, dismissed the Virginia troops at 
work upon it, and completing the works them- 
selves, had called them Fort Duquesne, in honour 
of the governor-general of Canada. 

This was the first open act of hostility. After 
holding a council of war, Washington hastily 
pressed forward with his detachment, in the hope 
of being able to penetrate to the mouth of Red 
Stone Creek, on the Monongahela, where he 
designed erecting a fortification for the protection 
of his troops, until the reinforcements he had sent 
for should arrive. 

At the passage of the Youghiogany, he was 
warned by his old friend Tanacharison of the ap- 
proach of a French detachment, the commander 
of which had expressed a determination to attack 
the first English they should meet. After throw- 
ing up an entrenchment at a place called the 
Great Meadows, Washington sent forward a party 
of soldiers, mounted on wagon horses, to recon- 
noitre ; but they returned without having dis- 
covered traces of the enemy. Mr. Gist came in 
soon after, and reported the presence of fifty 
French soldiers at his settlement the day pre- 
vious. At nine o'clock the same night another 
express arrived from Tanacharison, stating that 
the French detachment was near his camp, a dis- 
tance of six miles from Great Meadows. 

Taking with him forty men, Washington im- 
mediately marched to form a junction with his 



1754.] SKIRMISH AT GREAT MEADOWS. 245 

Indian allies. After having been baffled for six 
hours by the narrowness of the trails, which were 
continually being lost amidst the heavy blinding 
rains and the darkness of the night, he reached 
the Indian encampment on the 28th of May, a 
little before sunrise. Upon consultation with Tana- 
charison and other chiefs, it was resolved to 
march against the French at once. Two Indians 
were accordingly sent forward to reconnoitre the 
position of the enemy, who reported them as en- 
gaged in pitching their tents, about half a mile 
from the road, in a valley surrounded by rocks. 
Arrangements were immediately made to attack 
them on all sides. It was accomplished most 
effectually. As soon as the Virginians were dis- 
covered, the French seized their pieces and 
formed ; but when they found themselves exposed 
to a fire in front and rear, they threw down their 
arms. In this brief skirmish the French sustained 
a los of ten killed, one wounded, and twenty-one 
taken prisoners. Only a single man escaped. 
Among the killed was Jumonville, the commander 
of the detachment. The principal officers taken, 
were M. Drouillon and M. La Force, the latter 
of whom Washington speaks of in his despatch as 
*' a bold, enterprising man, and a person of great 
subtlety and cunning." 

The skirmish at Great Meadows, on account 
of its occurring before war was formally declared 
between England and France, created a great 

21* 



246 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1754. 

sensation, especially in the latter country. The 
conduct of Washington was strongly censured. 
The death of Jumonville was regarded at Paris in 
the light of a ferocious murder. He was there 
represented as a peaceful messenger, who had 
been suddenly waylaid and assassinated, in a 
manner contrary to all the rules of war established 
among civilized nations. 

The reply of Washington to these denuncia- 
tions was brief, but pertinent. "Instead of 
coming in the public and open manner of ambas- 
sadors, the party of Jumonville came secretly ; 
they sought out the most hidden retreats, and 
remained concealed whole days within five miles 
of us. After sending out spies to reconnoitre our 
position, they retreated two miles, from whence 
they sent messengers to M. Contrecoeur, with the 
results of their reconnoisance." The deserters 
who subsequently joined the force under Wash- 
ington, corroborated these statements. They 
asserted that Jumonville, though sent out osten- 
sibly as the bearer of a summons warning the 
English to retire beyond the Alleghanies, was in 
reality engaged in the duties of a spy, having 
orders to present his summons only in the event 
of falling in with a superior party. 

Having forwarded his prisoners, and being 
strengthened by a reinforcement of troops, Wash- 
ington, now elevated to the chief command by 
the death of Colonel Fry, erected a stockade fort 



1755.] BRADDOCK. 247 

at Great Meadows, to which he gave the name 
of Fort Necessity. Leaving a garrison at this 
point under charge of Captain Mackay, he pushed 
on towards Fort Duquesne, but was soon obliged 
to fall back before a superior force of the enemy. 
He had scarcely returned to Fort Necessity be- 
fore the imperfect works were invested by fifteen 
hundred French and Indians, commanded by M. 
de Villier. After a brief but spirited defence, 
the fort was surrendered, on condition that the 
garrison should be permitted to retire with their 
arms and baggage. The following morning the 
Virginians marched out of the fort, and bearing 
the wounded on their backs, proceeded to Will's 
Creek, where they assisted in building Fort Cum- 
berland. 

Changes in the organization of the army hav- 
ing been subsequently introduced by Governor 
Dinwiddie, Washington resigned his commission, 
and retired to private life. 

Early in the spring of 1755, General Braddock 
arrived in Virginia with two regiments of regu- 
lars, and encamped at Alexandria. This strong 
force, aided by the colonial militia, was supposed 
to be amply sufficient to drive the French across 
the Canadian frontiers. At the urgent request of 
Braddock, Colonel Washington consented to take 
part in the campaign as a member of his military 
family. 

The army commenced its march soon after, 



248 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1755. 

reaching Winchester about the twentieth of April, 
From thence the troops marched by different 
routes to Fort Cumberland, the extreme frontier 
settlement. At this point they were reinforced 
by one thousand Virginians. The inability of the 
contractors to supply the necessary means of 
transporting the provisions and artillery across 
the mountains, occasioned great vexation to the 
commanding general, and delayed for some time 
the progress of the troops. These embarrass- 
ments were at length overcome by the energy and 
activity of Franklin, then postmaster-general for 
the colonies. 

On the 10th of June, the vanguard of the 
army was once more in motion. Having now to 
encounter the steep rough ridges of the Allegha- 
nies, over which a road had to be cut with great 
labour for the wagons and artillery, the march 
was slow and difficult in the extreme. Three 
days were occupied in accomplishing but six of 
the fifty miles which lay between Fort Cumber- 
land and Redstone, on the Monongahela. Con- 
scious that if these delays continued, the season 
would be consumed in crossing the mountains, 
Braddock, acting upon the advice of Washington, 
separated the army into two divisions, and leaving 
Colonel Dunbar to bring up the heavy baggage, 
pushed forward, in advance, at the head of twelve 
hundred men lightly equipped. 

A sickness, brought on by fatigue of body and 



1755.] ATTACK ON FORT DUQUESNE. 249 

mind, confined Washington to the rear division 
for nearly two weeks. Anxious, however, to be 
at his post before the army reached Fort Du- 
Cjuesne, he parted from the troops under Dunbar, 
and, borne by short stages across the mountains, 
overtook Braddock fifteen miles from Fort Du- 
quesne, the evening before the battle of Monon- 
gahela. 

The British general had been repeatedly 
warned of the danger to which he was exposed 
from the wild and rugged character of the coun- 
try, and the peculiar method of savage warfare. 
It was suggested to him to employ the three com- 
panies of provincials, forming part of the first 
division, as rangers, to scour the country in ad- 
vance of the army ; but Braddock, wedded to a 
system of European tactics, and despising alike 
Frenchmen, provincials, and Indians, adhered to 
arrangements which, however suitable they might 
have been on the broad plains of Europe, were in 
the last degree pedantic and mischievous among 
the intricate forests of America. Early on the 
morning of the ninth of July, 1755, the army 
crossed the Monongahela, a little below the mouth 
of the Youghiogany, and after marching till about 
noon, forded the river a second time at a distance 
of about ten miles from Fort Duquesne. When 
they reached the northern bank of the Mononga- 
hela, three hundred men, commanded by Colonel 
Gage, were thrown forward, supported at a little 



250 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1755. 

distance, by a party of two hundred, ordered to 
act as a reserve. These latter were followed by 
the main body, commanded by Braddock in per- 
son, which being encumbered with baggage and 
artillery, moved but slowly. The whole army 
had scarcely left the bank of the river, before a 
sharp firing was heard in front and on the left 
flank, and the main body hastened up to the sup- 
port of their companions. But before they could 
succeed in doing this, the advanced parties fell 
back successively in great confusion, and break- 
ing through the main body, so thoroughly disor- 
ganized it, that no after efforts on the part 
of the general and his officers could restore 
them to order. In this state, huddled together 
in dense masses, firing panic stricken at the con- 
cealed enemy, and often shooting down their own 
officers and men, the regulars remained for three 
hours. It was in vain that Braddock exerted 
himself to form his men into platoons and co- 
lumns. The French and Indians, protected by 
ravines and high bushes on each side of the road, 
poured from their places of concealment a con- 
tinuous fire, by which sixty officers and nearly 
seven hundred men, or one-half of the whole force 
engaged, were either killed or w^ounded. Brad- 
dock himself had five horses shot under him, and 
fell soon after w^ounded mortally. His two aids 
had already been borne disabled from the field. 
The regulars now gave way on all sides, and the 



1755.] bkaddock's defeat. 251 

flight soon became a perfect rout. The Virginia 
troops alone, bj taking to the trees and fighting 
after the Indian manner, behaved with a courage 
and coolness worthy of their old reputation. 
Washington, still feeble from his recent illness, 
placed himself at their head, and covered for a 
time the disorderly retreat of the regulars. At 
length the brave provincials were cut to pieces. 
Of three companies which were in the action, 
only thirty men escaped. Washington, though 
always in the thickest of the fight, miraculously 
escaped unharmed, though he had two horses shot 
under him, and four bullets had pierced his 
clothes. 

So thoroughly disorganized were the fugitive 
regulars, that it was found impossible to rally 
them until they reached the rear division under 
Dunbar. On the 13th of June, the brave, but 
arrogant, Braddock, expired of his wounds, and 
was buried on the road near Fort Necessity. 
The panic among the soldiers still continuing, 
Dunbar abandoned the expedition, and after de- 
stroying his artillery and stores, retreated across 
the mountains to Fort Cumberland, and from 
thence to Philadelphia. 

The campaign being thus brought to a dis- 
astrous close. Colonel Washington, after resting 
a few days at the fort to recruit his strength, 
returned to Mount Vernon, an estate belonging 
to the orphan daughter of his deceased brother 



252 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1755. 

Lawrence, but which subsequently descended to 
himself, as heir at law. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Indian incursions — Activity of Washington — Dinwiddie con- 
venes the assembly — Increase of troops — Washington ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief — Hastens to Winchester — Dis- 
tressed condition of the settlers — His letter to the governor 
— His painful situation — Fort Loudoun commenced — Eng- 
land declares war against France — Arrival of the Earl of 
Loudoun — Success of the French under Montcalm — Confer- 
ence at Philadelphia — Plan of the campaign — Failure of the 
expedition against Louisburg — Campaign of 1758 — Energetic 
measures of Pitt — Expedition ordered against Fort Duquesne 
— Advance of Colonel Bouquet — The Virginia troops con- 
centrated at Fort Cumberland — A new road opened to Loyal 
Hanna — A detachment under Major Grant ordered to recon- 
noitre Fort Duquesne — Defeat of Grant — Arrival of General 
Forbes at Loyal Hanna — Council of war — Advance of the 
troops — The fort burned and deserted by the French — Fort 
Pitt erected on its site — Campaign of 1759 — Treaty of Fon- 
tainbleau. 

Emboldened by their success in defeating the 
army under Braddock, the French Indians no 
longer confined their hostile incursions to the 
settlements on the frontiers. They crossed the 
mountains, and after spreading themselves over 
the country in the vicinity of Fort Cumberland, 
penetrated to within twenty miles of Winchester. 
Wherever they moved they committed the most 
horrible atrocities. Whole families of settlers 



1755.] FRESH TROOPS RAISED. 253 

were massacred, scouting parties were cut off, 
and even the fortified stations attacked, with a 
boldness that was increased by the feebleness 
with which they were opposed. 

Although he had resigned his commission of 
colonel in the service of Virginia, Washington 
still retained the office of adjutant-general of 
militia. Eully conscious that nothing but the 
most energetic measures could save the inhabi- 
tants of the frontiers from being utterly extirpa- 
ted by their savage and barbarous enemies, he 
called out the militia for exercise and review, 
and encouraajed the formation of volunteer com- 
panics. 

Equally impressed with the necessity of imme- 
diate action in a crisis already so imminent. Go- 
vernor Dinwiddie convened the assembly on the 
4th of August. The session, which was brief, 
resulted in a vote of forty thousand pounds for 
the public service, and authority to increase the 
Virginia regiment to sixteen companies. 

The organization of this body was entrusted 
to AVashington, with the commission of com- 
mander-in-chief of all the forces raised, and to 
be raised, in Virginia, and the unusual privilege 
of naming his own field officers. He had scarcely 
set out on his journey to Williamsburg, for the 
purpose of conferring with the governor upon a 
plan of operations, when he was overtaken by an 
express announcing a new and more destructive 

22 



254 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1755. 

irruption of the French and Indians, and was 
compelled to hasten to Winchester. 

His personal presence abated in some degree 
the terrors which the sanguinary excesses of the 
enemy had inspired. He collected and armed 
the men who had fled with their families from 
scenes of desolation and carnage, and directed 
the county lieutenants, and the officers engaged 
in enlisting volunteers, to concentrate their re- 
cruits and militia, as speedily as possible, at 
Winchester. Before these orders could be execu- 
ted, the enemy had recrossed the Alleghanies 
with their prisoners and plunder. No pursuit 
was made. The number of regular troops em- 
ployed in the service of Virginia was totally in- 
sufficient for the protection of so extensive a 
frontier, and effective service w^as found imprac- 
ticable from the militia. 

Deeply affected by the distresses of the inhabit- 
ants, and the constant recurrence of barbarities 
on the part of the savages, for which he could 
afford no relief beyond uncertain promises, 
Washington wrote a most pathetic letter to the 
governor, urging the assembly to more vigorous 
measures. In this letter he says, " The sup- 
plicating tears of the women, and moving peti- 
tions of the men, melt me with such deadly sor- 
row, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own 
mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to 



1756.] STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 255 

the butchering enemy, provided that would con- 
tribute to the people's ease." 

As the only remedy for disasters which threat- 
ened, otherwise, the inevitable destruction of all 
the forts, stations, and settlements, between the 
Ohio River and the Blue Ridge, Washington pro- 
posed a new organization of the militia, and an 
increase of the regular troops. His suggestions 
being only partially adopted by the assembly, he 
was reduced, to his great chagrin, to a system 
of defensive operations ; the duties of which were 
both harassing and inglorious, and the summer 
of 1756 was wasted in a series of petty skirmishes, 
entailing great loss of life upon the troops engaged 
in them, without being effectual in repressing the 
incursions of the enemy. 

This unhappy state of things excited feelings 
of the most painful emotion in the breast of 
Washington, vrho was compelled, on the one hand, 
to listen to murmurs of discontent from his own 
soldiers, and on the other, to heart-rending ap- 
peals for protection from the distressed inhabit- 
ants. His situation was rendered still more un- 
enviable by the conduct of the governor, who, 
without possessing any military knowledge, un- 
dertook to regulate the principal operations. 
Whilst yielding obedience to orders that were 
found practicable, Washington protested warmly 
against being made responsible for military move- 
ments over which he had no control. His fine 



256 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1756. 

sense of honour was subject to a yet keener an- 
noyance in the rumours which were circulated at 
this period, by certain friends of the governor, to 
the disparagement of the army, charging the 
officers with gross irregularities and neglect of 
duty, and indirectly throwing the blame upon 
the commander. Justly indignant at being made 
the object of accusations as false as they were 
slanderous, his first impulse was to resign his 
commission and retire from the service ; but his 
half-formed purpose was speedily overruled by 
the remonstrances of his friends, the general 
voice of the people, and by his own high sense 
of the duty which he ovred to his native province. 

The expected arrival of the Earl of Loudoun 
to take command of the royal forces in America — 
a station temporarily occupied, since the fall of 
Braddock, by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts 
— may also have had its effect in reconciling 
Washington to bear, with such patience as he 
might, the annoyances to which he was subjected. 

Hoping soon to be called upon to take part in 
a campaign of a more decided character, he busied 
himself, in the mean while, in strengthening the 
old forts and constructing new ones. A fort was 
also commenced at Winchester, as a depository 
for military stores, and a rallying point for such 
settlers as might be driven in from the frontiers. 
It was called Loudoun, in honour of the new 
commander-in-chief. 



1757.] CONFERENCE AT PHILADELPHIA. 257 

On the 18tli of May, 1756, England formally 
declared war against France, and, late in July, 
the Earl of Loudoun arrived in America. He 
had scarcely assumed the duties of his command, 
before intelligence was brought him that the 
Marquis Montcalm had captured, after a short 
bombardment, the strong fort of Oswego, and 
taken its garrison, consisting of more than a 
thousand men, prisoners of war. 

The expedition previously planned against Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point was immediately 
abandoned; the troops which were on the march 
to reinforce the garrison at Oswego, fell back in 
dismay to Albany ; the militia were suffered to 
return to their homes ; and, as the season was by 
this time well advanced, the regulars were ordered 
into winter quarters at New York and Albany. 

In March, 1757, Washington attended a meet- 
ing of governors and officers at Philadelphia, 
which had been convened by Loudoun for the 
purpose of arranging with them the plan of the 
ensuing campaign. Washington urged his favour- 
ite project of an expedition against Duquesne ; 
but it was finally decided to continue the system 
of defensive operations in the middle and south- 
ern states, while the main army directed its 
efforts against the garrisons of the enemy at 
Louisburg and upon the lakes. 

Through the tardiness and indecision of the 
commander-in-chief, the expedition organized 

22*- 



258 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1758. 

against Loulsburg resulted in a complete failure. 
In the mean time, the energetic Montcalm placed 
himself at the head of eight thousand men, and 
invested Fort William Henry at the southern ex- 
tremity of Lake George. After a siege of six 
days the garrison, consisting of two thousand 
men, having exhausted their ammunition, capitu- 
lated on condition of being suffered to march out 
with the honours of war. 

On the frontiers of Virginia the Indians still 
continued their predatory inroads, almost with 
impunity. 

Washington had returned to his old quarters 
at Winchester ; but little could be done beyond 
maintaining the garrisons already established, 
and alleviating the sufferings of those who had 
fled from the fury of the savages. It was well 
understood by this time that no scheme of effect- 
ual relief could be planned, which had not for its 
basis the capture of Fort Duquesne. 

The close of the year 1757 saw the French in 
possession of all their fortresses, from Cape 
Breton to Louisiana ; while they had expelled 
the English from Oswego and Lake George, and 
had reduced the Six Nations to a position of 
neutrality. 

The campaign of 1758, was to open under 
happier auspices. The elder Pitt had taken his 
seat in the British cabinet, as secretary of state, 
and understanding, far better than his predeces- 



1758.] Pitt's measures. 259 

sors, the importance and condition of the Ameri- 
can provinces, he resolved on a vigorous prosecu- 
tion of the war, the plan of which embraced a 
series of offensive operations throughout the 
frontiers. 

To the great joy of Virginia, General Forbes 
was ordered to undertake the conquest of Fort 
Duquesne. Thoroughly appreciating the inability 
of the provinces to carry on the war to a success- 
ful conclusion at their own expense, Pitt address- 
ed a circular to the respective governors, request- 
ing them to raise an aggregate force of not less 
than twenty thousand men, and offering to re- 
imburse the expense of the levies by a subsequent 
parliamentary grant. The troops thus raised were 
to be armed and provisioned at the charge of the 
crown. The effect of this liberality was at once 
apparent. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania, promptly responded to the 
call of the energetic minister. 

The forces in Virginia were immediately in- 
creased to two regiments of a thousand men each. 
Colonel Washington, still retaining his commis- 
sion as commander-in-chief of the Virginia troops, 
was placed at the head of the first regiment. The 
command of the second was given to Colonel Byrd. 

In the mean while, the affairs of the province 
had been materially benefited by a change of 
governors. Dinwiddle had sailed for England in 



260 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1758. 

January, 1758, leaving behind him a character 
for arrogance and avarice, which made his de- 
parture a source of congratulation rather than 
of regret. Lord Loudoun had been appointed to 
succeed him ; but the pressure of his military 
duties detaining him at the north, John Blair, 
president of the council, acted as chief magistrate 
until the 7th of June, when he surrendered his 
authority into the hands of the newly commis- 
sioned governor, Francis Fauquier. 

The period at length approached when the 
long wished for movement against Fort Duquesne 
was to take place. The army appointed to 
eifect the conquest of this important fortress 
amounted to seven thousand men. General 
Forbes being taken ill on his way from Phila- 
delphia, the regulars and Pennsylvania troops, 
commanded by Colonel Bouquet, were ordered 
in advance to Raystown, on the south branch of 
the Juniata ; and early in July, the Virginia 
regiments under Washington, were concentrated 
at Fort Cumberland. During the absence of 
General Forbes, scouting parties, clothed in the 
light Indian dress, were emplo^^'ed in opening a 
road to Baystown, thirty miles distant, and in 
repairing the one leading to Great Meadows. 
Differences of opinion arising in relation to the 
line of route, Washington strenuously urged that 
the troops should march from Cumberland, over 
the road previously constructed by the army 



1758.] grant's attack. 261 

under Braddock. His advice was disregarded. 
A new road was ordered to be commenced from 
Rajstown, as the nearest and most direct route to 
the Ohio. For six weeks Bouquet's advance di- 
vision of twenty-five hundred men were kept in- 
cessantly employed on this arduous service, and 
on the 10th of September had penetrated no 
further than Loyal Hanna, a distance of forty- 
five miles from Raystown. While two-thirds of 
the troops were employed in constructing a fort 
at this point, Colonel Bouquet sent forward 
Major Grant, with a detachment of eight hun- 
dred men, to reconnoitre the country in the 
vicinity of Fort Duquesne. 

On the fourteenth of September, after a march 
of nearly fifty miles, Grant reached a hill over- 
looking the fort. Under cover of the night, he 
drew up his men in the order of battle, and ad- 
vanced a small party of observation. Early the 
following morning, he ordered Major Lewis to 
take command of the baggage guard, and fall 
back some two miles in the rear. At the same 
time he sent an engineer, with a covering party, 
to take a plan of the works. To crown his rash- 
ness, he ordered the reveille to be beaten by all 
the drums in the detachment. 

The fort remained sternly silent. Not a sin- 
gle gun was fired, not a single sound of prepara- 
tion was heard within its walls. This ominous 
stillness Grant attributed to fear. He was soon 



262 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1758. 

to be terribly undeceived. All at once, the gates 
were flung open, and multitudes of Indians 
came streaming out, brandishing their weapons, 
and startling the air with the shrillness of the 
war-whoop. Spreading themselves on the flanks 
of the covering party, they sent from the shelter 
of trees and high grass, and from behind boulders 
of rock, and the undulations of the ground, a 
perfect storm of bullets ; while a chosen body of 
French regulars advanced in close order, and 
commenced an attack in front. Grant descended 
the hill to the support of his detachment, but they 
were killed almost to a man before he reached 
them. The main body, fighting in masses, soon 
began to sufl*er terribly under the spirited attacks 
of the French and the more deadly fire of the 
concealed savages. They were speedily thrown 
into disorder, but still fought with a blind fury, 
which injured the enemy but little, while it 
brought destruction upon themselves. Early in 
the action. Major Lewis hastened to the assist- 
ance of Grant, with the greater portion of his 
rear guard, leaving Captain Bullet with fifty men 
for the defence of the baggage. This reinforce- 
ment proved utterly ine2"ectual in checking the 
success of the enemy. The Indians, now confi- 
dent of victory, sprang from their coverts, and 
assaulted the wavering troops with the tomahawk 
and the scalping knife. They gave no quarter ; 
but inhumanly butchered the regulars and pro- 



1758.] HEROISM OF COL. BULLET. 263 

vincials in the very act of surrender. Grant 
barely succeeded in saving his life by capitulating 
to a French officer. Lewis, after defending him- 
self with great gallantry from the attacks of 
several savages, one of whom he killed, was forced 
to retreat upon a French detachment and yield 
himself a prisoner of war. On the capture of 
their principal officers, the troops fled from the 
field in complete rout. Following close upon the 
footsteps of the fugitives, the Indians hewed them 
down as they ran, scalping and hacking the 
bodies of their victims in the most barbarous 
manner. 

The cool forethought and heroism of Captain 
Bullet, at length put a stop to the sanguinary 
massacre. Sending back under a slender con- 
voy the strongest horses, with the most valuable 
part of the baggage, he formed a breastwork of 
the remainder, as a cover for his troops, and a 
rallying point for the fugitives. By keeping up 
a close and well directed fire, he was enabled to 
check for some time the advance of the pursuers. 
Finding, from the rapidly increasing strength of 
the savages, that he was in danger of being 
speedily overpowered, he resorted to a manoeuvre, 
which can only be justified by the extremity of 
his peril, and his knowledge of the treacherous 
character of those with whom he had to deal. 
Ordering his troops to reverse their arms, as a 
signal of surrender, he led them slowly, in this 



264 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1758. 

manner, towai'd the expectant savages, already 
grasping their tomahawks to begin the carnage 
anew. At a distance of only eight yards from 
the enemy, he suddenly halted his men, poured 
a close and destructive volley into the congregated 
groups, and instantly followed it by a furious 
charge with fixed bayonets. Struck with astonish- 
ment and terror, the Indians, imagining the whole 
army was at hand, took the woods, and did not 
cease their flight until they found themselves once 
more under the protection of the French regu- 
lars. Prudently refraining from pursuit. Bullet 
fell back upon the main body of the army at 
Loyal Hanna ; collecting as he retreated the 
wounded and terrified soldiers, whom he found 
scattered along his line of march, exhausted from 
want of food, and haunted by incessant fears of 
the savages. In this fatal action, nearly three 
hundred men were either killed or taken prison- 
ers. The first Virginia regiment lost six officers, 
and sixty-two privates. 

The gallantry of the provincials in the previous 
battle, in the subsequent repulse of the victorious 
savages, and in their masterly retreat, was the 
theme of universal praise. 

It was not until the 8th of November, that 
General Forbes was able to join Bouquet with the 
main army and heavy baggage. The difficulties 
in opening the new route were both serious and 
discouraging. The army, weary of repeated de- 



1758.] FORT PITT. 265 

lays, and weakened by sickness and desertion, 
began to exhibit symptoms of discontent. Fifty 
miles of unbroken forest yet lay between the 
camp at Loyal Hanna and Fort Duquesne. 

As the winter was close at hand, a council of 
war advised the abandonment of the enterprise 
until the opening of spring ; but before this deci- 
sion was acted upon, three prisoners, accidentally 
captured, reported the enemy as enfeebled by the 
failure of their usual supplies from the north, and 
by the desertion of their Indian allies. 

An advance was immediately resolved upon. 
Washington, at his own request, was placed in 
command of the troops thrown forward to prepare 
the way for the main army. Leaving their bag- 
gage and artillery at Loyal Hanna, the troops 
partook of the newly revived ardour of their offi- 
cers, and in despite of the numerous obstacles by 
which their march was delayed, reached Fort 
Duquesne on the 20th of November, 1758 ; but 
the enemy had already disappeared. The day 
previous to the arrival of the army under Forbes, 
they had set fire to the works, and retreated down 
the Ohio in boats. The ruined walls were speedi- 
ly renewed, and the long dreaded Fort Duquesne 
received the name of Fort Pitt, in honour of the 
English minister. After garrisoning the post 
with two hundred men, selected from the Virgi- 
nia regiment, Forbes, whose health was daily 
becoming more infirm, returned with the main 

23 



266 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1759. 

army to Philadelphia, where he died a few weeks 
after his arrival. 

The possession of Fort Pitt soon proved of in- 
calculable advantage to the provinces of Virginia, 
Maryland, and Pennsylvania. No longer stimu- 
lated to hostilities by the French, and awed by 
the successes of the British arms at the north, the 
Indian tribes were effectually controlled, and in 
a little while the fugitive settlers were enabled to 
return to the frontiers, and occupy their homes 
in peace. 

At the north the war was prosecuted with signal 
vigour and success. Loulsburg had fallen before 
the combined forces of Abercrombie and Bos- 
cawen, and Fort Frontenac had surrendered to a 
strong detachment of provincials under Broad- 
street. 

The campaign of 1759 w^as marked by still 
greater triumphs. Fort Niagara was captured 
by the levies under Prideaux and Johnson. Du- 
ring the same month the regulars, under Amherst, 
took possession of the important fortresses of 
Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and the con- 
quest of all the French possessions in Canathx 
was completed, on the eighteenth of September, 
by the surrender of Quebec to the forces cuiii- 
manded by the gallant and lamented Wolfe. 

But while the loss of her North American len i- 
tories restored peace to the British provinces, it 
was not until 1762 that France consented to the 



1759.] TREATY OF FONTAINBLEAU. 26T 

humiliating concessions which were extorted from 
her by the treaty of Fontainbleau. By this treaty 
she ceded to Great Britain the whole of Canada, 
Cape Breton, the islands in the gulf and river 
of St. Lawrence, part of Louisiana east of the 
Mississippi River, and her possessions in the West 
Indies. 

The bitterness of feeling engendered by this 
loss of territory, displayed itself a few years 
later, in prompting her to retaliate upon Great 
Britain, by rendering assistance to the colonists 
in their struggle for independence. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

English financial embarrassment^ — Proposition to tax the colo- 
nies — Passage of the stamp act — Its reception in America — 
Patrick Henry — His birth and education — Studies law — His 
first speech in the " parson's cause" — Its effect upon his audi- 
tors — Elected a member of the assembly — Offers his celebra- 
ted resolutions — The effect of their adoption — Congress at 
Philadelphia — Solemn declaration of rights — Repeal of the 
stamp act — Townshcnd's new bill — Passed by the Imperial 
parliament — Resistance of the Americans — Death of Fauquier 
— Session of 1768 — Resolutions of the assembly — Dissolved 
by the arrival of Lord Bottetourt as governor-in-chief — Ses- 
sion of 1769 — Dissolution of the assembly — Non-importation 
agreement — Progress of resistance — Repeal of all duties ex- 
cept that on tea — Agitation still continues — Death of Lord 
Bottetourt — His character — The assembly order a statue to 
be erected to his memory. 

The immense accession of territory acquired 
by the treaty of Fontainbleau, was soon discov- 



268 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1762. 

ered to be but a poor compensation for the 
alarming financial embarrassments into which 
England became plunged by the enormous ex- 
penses of the war. The energy infused by Pitt 
into her councils, the indomitable bravery of her 
regular troops, and the acknowledged prowess of 
her provincial levies, had raised her to the envi- 
able position of the greatest power in Europe. 
But the honour of this supremacy had been dearly 
bought. Four prolonged wars, within three 
quarters of a century, had increased her national 
debt to nearly seven hundred millions of dollars, 
and had reduced, by excessive taxation, her own 
immediate subjects to the verge of bankruptcy. 
A part of these difficulties were undoubtedly oc- 
casioned by the large sums of money required to 
protect the British American provinces from the 
aggressions of the French. In order to relieve 
the people of England from so onerous a burden 
in future, it was thought advisable to draw a 
revenue from the colonies sufficient to cover the 
charge of their defence. Hitherto, the colonial 
assemblies had been permitted to exercise their 
own discretion in granting or withholding military 
contributions. Jealous of their independence, 
and tenacious of a privilege they had so long 
enjoyed, they denied the authority of the impe- 
rial parliament to tax them without their own 
consent. The power to regulate the colonial 
trade with foreign countries, although it had 



1Y65.] STAMP ACT. 269 

been exercised by the officers of the crown for 
several generations, had always been submitted 
to with reluctance, and was daily growing more 
unpopular. Even the charges for the support 
of a post office, although the latter was an ac- 
knowledged benefit, had not been consented to 
without opposition. Having thus, by the impo- 
sition of duties for the regulation of trade, opened 
the way for more serious exactions, the English 
government finally resolved to assert its rights to 
levy taxes for revenue. 

In 1763, Lord Granville gave notice of his 
intention to bring in a bill imposing duty on 
stamps, avowedly for the purpose of raising a 
revenue from the provinces. At the next session 
of parliament, a resolution, affirming the right to 
tax the colonies, passed the House of Commons 
without a division. Petitions and remonstrances 
soon after flowed in from all parts of America. 
Notwithstanding the intense excitement which 
the ministry were conscious of having created, 
the bill was brought forward, and on the 2 2d of 
March, 1765, the Stamp Act was finally imposed. 

No sooner did its passage become known in 
America, than Virginia and Massachusetts took 
the lead in opposition to its enforcement. The 
assembly of Virginia was in session when the 
tidings arrived. Among the newly elected bur- 
gesses was Patrick Henry, a young lawyer, then 

just rising into celebrity for an eloquence seldom 

23*- 



270 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1765. 

equalled, and never excelled. Of the knowledge 
derived from a scholastic education, he possessed 
but little. He had been taught Latin by his 
father, and had attained to some proficiency in 
mathematics, but the confinement of studv was 
his aversion. He better loved to wander with 
his gun across his shoulder through the intricate 
mazes of the forest ; or to recline by the brook- 
side beneath the shade of some far-spreading tree, 
w^here, lulled into a dreamy mood by the sound 
of rippling waters, he could indulge for hours 
together in his own thick coming fancies. When 
he grew to manhood he became by turns a mer- 
chant and a farmer. Equally unsuccessful in 
both occupations, he determined to study law. 
After a course of reading which his poverty 
limited to six weeks, he obtained, in the twenty- 
fourth year of his age, a license to practice. 
Utterly ignorant at first of the simplest business 
of his profession, the three succeeding years 
were passed in the greatest pecuniary distress. 
But the leisure w^hich the absence of clients 
imposed was not wholly unimproved. He di- 
vided his time between his favourite sports, the 
reading of books upon ancient and modern his- 
tory, and a close study of the ancient Virginia 
charters. At length, an opportunity occurred 
for the display of those extraordinary powers, 
which have handed his name to posterity as the 
greatest natural orator the world has ever known. 



1764.] THE parsons' cause. 271 

It was the celebrated "Parsons' cause." The 
salary of the Episcopal ministers in Virginia had 
been fixed by law at sixteen thousand pounds of 
tobacco, the value of which long usage had esta- 
blished at sixteen shillings and eight pence a 
hundred weight. The issue of paper money, and 
the subsequent rage for speculation, having raised 
the price of that staple to fifty shillings a hundred 
weight, laws were passed in 1755 and 1758, au- 
thorizing the payment of all tobacco debts in 
money, at the old rate of sixteen shillings and 
eight pence. These laws were contested by the 
clergy, who claimed the right to receive their 
salary in tobacco, according to the terms of the 
original statute, or an amount in money equiva- 
lent to the increased price of the staple. A 
previous decision of the court in favour of the 
claimants, had left nothing undetermined but the 
amount of damages, the standard of which had 
been established by the law of 1748. The plain- 
tiff in the present case was Henry's own uncle. 
Naturally awkward in his deportment, and con- 
fused by the presence of so many learned men, 
and by the multitude of anxious listeners with 
which the court-house was thronged, Henry 
faltered so much in his exordium, that his father, 
who occupied the chair as presiding magistrate, 
sank back in his seat, covered with shame and 
mortification. The immense crowd which had 
assembled within and without the court-house, 



272 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1765. 

painfully impressed with the incapacity of their 
chosen champion, hung their heads in despond- 
ency ; while the clergy, some twenty of whom 
were present, glanced at each other with a covert 
expression of anticipated triumph. 

But a wonderful change of feeling was now 
about to take place. The first few, feeble, and 
broken sentences, were succeeded by others bet- 
ter connected, and full of pith and meaning. As 
he gained confidence, the young rustic lawyer 
disappeared, and in his place stood the impas- 
sioned orator, holding the multitude in thrall by 
the grandeur of his expression, the intense fire 
which shone in his eyes, the grace of his action, 
the graphic force of his imagery, and the almost 
magical charm of a voice which now stirred all 
hearts, like the blast of a war-bugle, and now 
soothed them to quietude, as by the tender music 
of a lute. 

The cause w^as gained ; under the bewildering 
influence of an eloquence almost miraculous, the 
jury, forgetting alike the clear provisions of the 
Luv, and the conceded right of the plaintiff, re- 
turned a verdict of one penny damages. 

Henry rose rapidly in popularity. The follow- 
ing year he amazed a committee of the house of 
burgesses, by a brilliant display of his peculiar 
powers, on a question involving the right of suf- 
frage. In 1765, he was elected to the assembly. 
He had taken his seat but a few days, when 



1765.] HENRY LEADS THE LIBERALS. 273 

tidings reached Virginia that the Stamp Act had 
passed. As a member of a body composed prin- 
cipally of the aristocracy of the province, a 
stranger to most of the burgesses, and entirely 
unacquainted with the forms of the house, Henry 
waited for some time the action of older and more 
experienced men. But finding, as the period 
approached when the law was to go into opera- 
tion, that all shrank from grappling with a ques- 
tion involving issues of so momentous a character, 
he tore from an old law-book a blank leaf, on 
which he wrote a series of resolutions, claiming for 
the people of Virginia all the privileges of Bri- 
tish subjects; asserting the exclusive right of the 
assembly to impose taxes upon the people of the 
colony ; and declaring any attempt to vest that 
authority elsewhere, as inconsistent with the 
ancient charter of Virginia, and subversive of 
British, as well as of American freedom. Reso- 
lutions so bold and spirited alarmed the fears of 
those who styled themselves the friends of the 
government, and gave rise to violent debates. 

Henry at once took his place at the head of 
the liberals. Ardent and uncompromising, he 
poured forth his magnificent philippics, startling 
his aristocratic antagonists by the power of his 
language, the fiery impetuosity of his gestures, 
and the singular aptness of his comparisons. 
Warming with his theme, he blanched the cheeks 
of his auditors, by exclaiming : " Caesar had his 



274 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1765. 

Brutus ; Charles the First his Cromwell ; and 
George the Third" — ''Treason! treason!" ex- 
claimed the speaker. " Treason ! treason !" 
echoed other burgesses. Henry turned his fine 
eyes, blazing with light, from one opponent to 
another, and then added : " and George the 
Third may profit by their example. If that be 
treason, make the most of it." After a warm 
contest, the resolutions passed by a small majo- 
rity. The next day the governor dissolved the 
assembly. 

The news spread with astonishing celerity 
throughout the whole length and breadth of Ameri- 
ca. Similar resolutions were offered and carried in 
the other provinces, and the principle of resistance 
to taxation without representation, was universally 
established and recognised. Acting upon the 
recommendation of Massachusetts, deputies from 
nine provinces met in congress at Philadelphia, 
and agreed upon a solemn declaration of rights. 
Petitions and memorials to the King of England 
and both houses of Parliament were also unani- 
mously adopted, in which the invasion of ancient 
privileges, and the frequent violations of existing 
compacts, were complained of in language com- 
bining the tenderness of affectionate respect, with 
the firmness arising from a consciousness of in- 
jury. For a whole year the contest continued ; 
but the pertinacity of the British ministry was 
not equal to the unyielding resolution with which 



1768.] DIFFICULTIES ON THE FRONTIER. 275 

the scheme of imperial taxation was opposed. 
The stamps were every where refused. Pitt, 
Camden, Barre, Burke, and Conway openly jus- 
tified the Americans in their resistance. Finding 
the obnoxious act utterly ineffective for all prac- 
tical purposes, it was repealed by Parliament at 
the session of 1766. 

The joy of the provincials was, however, but 
of short duration. Their expressions of loyalty 
and gratitude had scarcely subsided, before 
Townsend, the new chancellor of the exchequer, 
sheltering himself behind the admitted right of 
Parliament to regulate commerce, framed a bill 
imposing certain duties on tea, paper, glass, and 
painters' colours. 

On the second of July, 1767, the act was passed. 
Justly indignant at this new and more insidious 
attempt to encroach upon their liberties, the 
Americans entered at once upon a spirited resist- 
ance. They contended, that when designed for 
purposes of revenue, there was no difference in 
principle between direct and indirect taxation. 

Before the passage of the act was known in 
Virginia the death of Lieutenant-governor Fau- 
quier had again placed John Blair, president of 
the council, at the head of the government. 

Difficulties having arisen between the people 
of the frontiers and the western Indians, the as- 
sembly was convened a month earlier than usual. 
It met on the last of March, 1768. After adopt- 



276 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1769. 

ing such measures as were best calculated to 
quiet the border agitation, the burgesses pro- 
ceeded to consider the late acts of Parliament, 
and passed a series of spirited resolutions, in 
which they boldly asserted, " that no power on 
earth has a right to impose taxes on the people 
without their own consent." While still in ses- 
sion, Lord Bottetourt, the new governor-in-chief, 
arrived, and a dissolution immediately took place. 
As this was the usual course of procedure in such 
cases, it created no dissatisfaction. 

In accordance with a previous summons to that 
effect, a new assembly convened in May, 1769 ; 
and, after listening respectfully to a conciliatory 
speech from the governor, entered upon an ani- 
mated discussion of grievances. The Parliament 
of December, 1768, having authorized the gover- 
nor of Massachusetts to be instructed to send to 
England for trial all persons charged with trea- 
sonable offences, the assembly of Virginia antici- 
pated the reception of similar orders by the 
adoption of several resolutions, in which they 
claimed the sole power to impose taxes, asserted 
their right to petition the crown for relief, either 
singly or in conjunction with other colonies, and 
denounced the transmission beyond sea for trial, 
of any persons suspected of treason or of any 
other crime whatsoever, as a violation of privi- 
lege, and an illegal departure from a fixed and 
known course of proceeding. These resolutions 



1769.] PLEDGE NOT TO IMPORT. 277 

were ordered to be sent, without delay, to the 
speakers of the several houses of assembly on the 
continent, and disdaining any longer to appeal 
to an unfriendly Parliament, the burgesses agreed 
upon an address, to be presented by their colonial 
agent to the king in person. Although sincerely 
sympathizing with the colonists in their troubles, 
the governor, holding his office from the crown, 
could not suffer resolutions of so dangerous a 
character to pass without a pointed rebuke. 

The following morning he dissolved the assem- 
bly. Undeterred by this censure, the members 
adjourned to a private dwelling, and solemnly 
pledged themselves to import no articles from 
England, or any part of Europe, except an enume- 
rated few, which were of absolute and primary 
necessity. Among the burgesses by whom this 
non-importation agreement was signed, were 
George \Yashington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas 
Jefferson ; the latter, a young lawyer newly elect- 
ed from the county of Albemarle, where he pos- 
sessed a handsome patrimonial estate. 

Animated by the imposing example of Vir- 
ginia, such of the other colonies as had previously 
hesitated to commit themselves to measures so 
decided, now adopted resolutions of a similar 
character. 

Alarmed at the fearful progress of a resistance 
which they themselves had provoked, the British 
ministry, at length, reluctantly retraced their 

24 



278 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1770. 

steps, and in April, 1770, the obnoxious duties 
were repealed, with the exception of three pence 
a pound on tea. To render the latter acceptable 
to the Americans, a drawback of one shilling a 
pound was allowed on all tea exported to the 
colonies, so that they were, apparently, benefited 
by the change to the extent of nine pence a 
pound. 

But the original ground of contest still re- 
mained. The right to tax one article involved 
the right to tax all ; and though a relaxation of 
the non-importation agreement took place as 
soon as the duties on the other commodities were 
removed, the colonists determined to allow no 
tea to be landed in America, until the impost on 
that also was rescinded. 

The death of their amiable and upright gover- 
nor, Lord Bottetourt, during the fall of this year, 
was a source of sincere regret to the people of 
Virginia. Engaging in his address, prompt in 
his attention to business, and of incorruptible in- 
tegrity, he yet more closely endeared himself to 
all, by the deep interest which he showed for the 
welfare of the province, and by the frank, bold, 
and eneri^etic manner in which he defended those 
over whom he presided from the aspersions of 
their enemies. More than once he warned the 
British government of the danger that was 
likely to ensue from persisting in a course of 
policy that would inevitably prove as injurious to 



1770.] STATUE TO BOTTETOURT. 279 

the true interests of England, as it was unjust to 
her colonies. 

Acting under his instructions from abroad, he 
had, from time to time, given assurances to his 
council and the house of burgesses, which the 
ministry never intended to fulfil. Justly indig- 
nant at a deception, to which he had been made 
a party, the high spirited nobleman demanded 
his recall ; declaring, at the same time, his deter- 
mination never to suffer himself to be constituted 
the oppressor of an innocent and virtuous people. 

Profoundly penetrated by the remembrance of 
his many virtues, the members of the house of 
burgesses ordered a fine marble statue, which 
still stands in the town of Williamsburg, to be 
erected to his memory. 



280 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1772. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Dunmore appointed governor^ — Arrival of Foy — Meeting of the 
assembly — Rebuke of Dunmore — His tart reply — Committee 
of correspondence organized — A continental Congress sug- 
gested — Journey of Dunmore to the Ohio — Appoints Conolly 
Indian agent — His designs unfolded — Troubles with Penn- 
sylvania — Action of the Virginia council — Cargoes of tea 
sent to the colonies — Proceedings in consequence — Destruc- 
tion of tea at Boston — Its port closed — Action of Virginia — 
The Continental Congress — Indian war on the frontier — An 
army raised^ — -March of Dunmore — Colonel Lewis encamps 
at Point Pleasant — -Battle of Point Pleasant — -Suspicious con- 
duct of Dunmore — -Negotiations for peace — 'Speech of Logan 
— -Approaching crisis — Battle of Lexington' — -Dunmore con- 
veys the powder from the magazine at Williamsburg — Henry 
marches upon the capital^ — An assembly convened — Flight 
of Dunmore. 

By the death of the Lamented Bottetourt, the 
duties of governor devolved upon William Nelson, 
president of the council, until the arrival of Lord 
Dunmore in 1772. The quartering of troops in 
Boston, the riots in that city during the spring 
of 1770, and the obstinate persistence of the 
British ministry in retaining the duty on tea, all 
tended to increase the agitation of the public 
mind. Slight events became causes of grave 
suspicion ; and while every one felt that a crisis 
was rapidly approaching, none knew upon which 
province the blow was first to fall. The delay 
of Dunmore, in New York, for several months 
after his appointment, was by no means favour- 



1773.] TOY MADE SECRETARY. 281 

able to his reputation in Virginia. The resigna- 
tion by Captain Foy of his office as Governor of 
New Hampshire, for the purpose of accepting the 
inferior post of private secretary to Dunmore, 
was regarded by many as originating in some 
latent purpose. Foy had obtained a brilliant 
military reputation by his conduct at the battle 
of Minden ; and it was supposed, not without 
plausibility, that the British ministry intended to 
employ his talents in carrying out those measures 
of coercion which had already been devised. To 
provide an adequate salary for his distinguished 
secretary, Dunmore had directed that he should 
receive a fixed sum of five hundred pounds a year, 
besides the lucrative emoluments arising from a 
list of fees established expressly for his benefit. 
This assumption of an authority vested in the 
assembly alone, received, at the first meeting of 
that body, a prompt rebuke ; and Dunmore, con- 
scious of the impolicy of creating an open rupture 
with the indignant burgesses upon a question of 
so little moment when compared with the one at 
issue between the provinces and the mother coun- 
try, consented to annul the new list of fees, and 
sought by his courtesy and condescension to 
efi"ace the unfavourable impression his conduct 
had created. For a brief period harmony vras 
apparently restored, but before the assembly 
again met, in 1773, a forgery of colonial paper 
money to an alarming extent, while stimulating 

24* 



282 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1773. 

the governor to bring the supposed offenders to 
justice, had led him to overstep the strict limits 
of the law. Conscious that one uncensured 
illegal act might afford a pretext for others, the 
assembly resolved upon an address to Dunmore, 
in which they stated, that as a doubtful construc- 
tion, and various execution of the criminal code, 
would greatly endanger the safety of the innocent, 
they trusted that the proceedings in the case 
under notice might not be adduced in future as 
a precedent. Stung by the rebuke, Dunmore an- 
swered tartly, " In apprehending and bringing 
to justice the forgers of your paper currency, I 
little imagined, when I was endeavouring to 
punish the guilty, that my conduct could by any 
means be thought to endanger the safety of the 
innocent." This display of acerbity had no 
effect upon men who were sustained by the con- 
sciousness of having performed a duty which 
they owed to their constituents. 

After having thus zealously defended the 
privileges of the subject, the burgesses proceeded 
to organize a committee of correspondence, for 
the purpose of keeping up a frequent communica- 
tion with the other colonies, and of obtaining the 
earliest intelligence from abroad. The subsequent 
movements of Dunmore were also subjected to the 
closest scrutiny. 

During the summer he proceeded on a pleasure 
excursion to the back settlements. He remained 



1773.] SCHEMES OF DUNMORE. 283 

sometime at Pittsburg, examining the nature of 
the country, conciliating the inhabitants, and 
holding frequent interviews of a private nature 
with one ConoUy, whom he had appointed Indian 
agent. This man, able and unscrupulous, was 
known to possess considerable influence, not only 
over the surrounding tribes of savages, but also 
with the hardy and unsuspicious borderers. The 
objects of Dunmore's journey soon became ap- 
parent. It was to create a territorial dispute 
between Virginia and Pennsylvania, and thus 
weaken the bond of union existing between the 
two provinces ; or failing in that, to divert the 
attention of Virginia from the designs of the 
British government by provoking an Indian war. 
He had scarcely set out on his return, before 
Conolly commenced the formation of settlements 
in Pennsylvania, under patents granted by Dun- 
more. These encroachments were immediately 
resisted, Conolly was seized and imprisoned by 
the officers of Pennsylvania, and the settlers 
secured and punished as outlaws. Dunmore 
instantly issued a proclamation, which was well 
calculated, by its violent and haughty tone, to 
increase the excitement already existing. Fortu- 
nately his scheme was foiled by the sagacity and 
moderation of his council, who firmly rejecting 
all violent measures, agreed to settle the contro- 
versy by arbitration. 

In the mean while, the general adoption of the 



284 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1773. 

non-importation agreement having had the effect 
of virtually annulling the tax upon tea, the Bri- 
tish government endeavoured to force its intro- 
duction into the colonies hj offering the East 
India Company a drawback equal to the amount 
of duty. As the tax was by this means rendered 
merely nominal, the hope was indulged that re- 
sistance would cease, and the proposition was 
accepted by the company. But as the principle 
involved remained the same as ever, the people 
would not yield. 

At Charleston, the tea was allowed to be stored, 
but its sale was expressly prohibited. The car- 
goes intended for Philadelphia and New York, 
were sent back at once to England. At Boston, 
the popular indignation displayed itself far more 
violently. On the evening of the 16th of De- 
cember, 1773, three ships, containing tea, were 
boarded by an organized party, disguised as In- 
dians, who forcibly broke open the chests con- 
taining the obnoxious commodity, and emptied 
their contents into the water. This bold act was 
no sooner known in England, than a bill w^as 
passed by Parliament, closing the port of Boston, 
and removing the seat of government to Salem. 

The assembly of Virginia was in session when 
a rough draft of the bill reached Williamsburg. 
All other business was at once thrown aside. An 
order was passed forthwith, protesting against 
the conduct of the ministry as subversive of 



1774.] CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 285 

American freedom, and setting apart that day 
week — the 1st of June, 1774 — for the purpose 
of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. To put a 
stop to proceedings so alarming, Dunmore sum- 
moned the members to the council chamber, and 
dissolved the assembly. 

On the following day, the whole of the dele- 
gates repaired, by agreement, to the Raleigh 
tavern, where, after drawing up an address to 
the American people, they authorized a corre- 
spondence to be opened with the several co- 
lonial committees, suggesting the expediency 
of appointing delegates to meet in a general 
Congress. The proposal everywhere met with 
a favourable response. On the 1st of August, 
1774, a convention was held at Williamsburg, 
which, after adopting, in a more stringent form, 
the old non-importation agreement, appointed 
seven delegates to the proposed Congress. Pro- 
minent among those chosen, were Randolph, 
Washington, Henry, and Jefferson. 

The Continental Congress met at Philadelphia 
on the 4th of September following. It consisted 
of fifty-three delegates, the leading men of twelve 
provinces. Of this select assembly, Peyton Ran- 
dolph was chosen president. 

But while the patriotism of Virginia was being 
thus honoured by her sister provinces, she was 
suffering all the horrors of an Indian war upon 
her frontiers. Preluded by a series of atrocious 



286 HISTOKY OF VIRGINIA. [1774. 

murders, it suddenly burst in full fury upon the 
defenceless inhabitants. The parties of border 
militia which had assembled to check the pro- 
gress of the enemy, were swept away, and such 
settlers as did not seek safety in flight, were 
either barbarously massacred, or hurried into 
captivity. 

No longer dreading the effects of French skill, 
superadded to Indian ferocity, large numbers of 
volunteers immediately took the field. An army 
of twenty-seven hundred men was speedily raised. 
Dunmore, to whom, by means cf his agent 
Conolly, the war has been attributed, placed 
himself at the head of a division of fifteen hun- 
dred men, and marched against the Shawanese 
towns on the Scioto. The remaining division 
under Colonel Andrew Lewis, proceeded to Point 
Pleasant, at the mouth of the great Kanawha. 

As a junction was to have been made at this 
place with the troops under Dunmore, Lewis 
halted his men and encamped until the first di- 
vision should arrive. On the 9th of October, 
orders were received from the governor for the 
troops to cross the Ohio and join him at, or near, 
the Shawanese towns. Early the next morning, 
while the men were actively engaged in preparing 
for their march, several wounded scouts came 
into camp with intelligence that the Lidians had 
been discovered in great force at a distance of 
less than a mile from the point. The main body 



1774.] BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT. 287 

of the army was immediately ordered out under 
Colonels Charles Lewis, and Fleming. The ad- 
vance, under Lewis, had not proceeded more than 
four hundred yards before it was assaulted by 
the Indians, and the action commenced. At the 
first fire Colonel Lewis fell mortally wounded. 
Fleming being disabled soon after, the men fell 
back in some confusion toward the camp, but 
were speedily rallied under cover of a reinforce- 
ment commanded by Colonel Field. The engage- 
ment then became general, and was continued, 
with unabated fury, from sunrise until near the 
close of evening. A skilful manoeuvre, executed 
under the orders of Colonel Andrew Lewis, at 
length decided the victory in favour of the Ameri- 
cans. Three companies, commanded by Shelby, 
Matthews, and Stuart, were directed to proceed 
secretly up the Kanawha, turn the position of 
the enemy, and suddenly fall upon their rear. 
This movement was successfully accomplished. 
Alarmed at being placed unexpectedly between 
two fires, the Indians were thrown into disorder, 
and about sunset commenced a precipitate re- 
treat across the Ohio to their towns on the Scioto. 
In this hard fought battle the Virginians sustain- 
ed a loss in killed and wounded of two hundred 
and fifteen. 

As soon as the dead were buried, and arrange- 
ments made for the comfort of the wounded, 
Lewis pressed forward to form a junction with 



288 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1774. 

Dunmore. While he was on his march, he was 
met by an express bearing orders for the troops 
to return at once to Point Pleasant. Suspicious 
of the motives by which the governor was actu- 
ated, Lewis continued to advance, until he came 
in sight of one of the Indian towns, where he en- 
countered Dunmore in person, who informed him 
that he had already consented to enter upon ne- 
gotiations for a peace. 

At the treaty, which was concluded soon after, 
Logan, one of the principal chiefs, was not pre- 
sent. To avoid, however, any misconstruction of 
his motives, he sent, by General Gibson, the fol- 
lowing speech to Lord Dunmore : "I appeal to 
any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's 
cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if ever 
he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. 
During the course of'the last long and bloody 
war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advo- 
cate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, 
that my countrymen pointed, as they passed, and 
said, 'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I 
had even thought to have lived with you, but for 
the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the 
last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, mur- 
dered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing 
my women and children. There run not a drop 
of my blood in the veins of any living creature. 
This called on me for revenge. I have sought 
it : I have killed many : I have fully glutted my 



1775.] BATTLE OP LEXINGTON. 289 

vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the 
beams of peace. But do not harbour a thought 
that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt 
fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his 
life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ! Not 
one." 

The war was closed upon the frontier ; but a 
sterner, grander, and more prolonged contest was 
speedily approaching. Resolutions, addresses, 
and resistance, both passive and forcible, had 
fully aroused the spirit of the American colonies, 
and prepared them for the bloodier struggle which 
was to follow. The common cause, at first im- 
perfectly embraced, because imperfectly under- 
stood, was now sustained by an unanimity of 
action, as forcible as it was imposing. 

In the early part of 1775, the various provin- 
cial governors received instructions from Eng- 
land, to check the disposition to rebellion in the 
colonies, by seizing upon all depots of arms and 
ammunition. Gage, of Massachusetts, was the 
first to undertake the fulfilment of this order, by 
an attempt to capture some cannon and military 
stores collected at Concord, a small town some 
twenty miles from Boston. Eight hundred troops 
were detached on this service, and on the nine- 
teenth of April, at sunrise, reached Lexington, 
where, for the first time, they came into collision 
with a body of continental militia. The regulars 
were at first successful, but were subsequently 

25 



290 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1775. 

compelled to retreat to Boston, with a loss in 
killed and wounded of three hundred men. 

On the 22d of April, two days only after the 
battle of Lexington, Dunmore secretly removed 
the gunpowder from the magazine at Williams- 
burg, to an armed vessel lying off York Town. 
This act was no sooner discovered than the volun- 
teers of Williamsburg assembled in arms, with 
the avowed pui-pose of seizing the person of the 
governor. 

Restrained with difficulty from the immediate 
execution of their threat, they despatched a depu- 
tation to the governor, demanding a restitution 
of the powder. His reply was courteous, but 
evasive. In the midst of the excitement, news 
arrived of the fight at Lexington. The tidings 
spread like wild-fire throughout the province. 
Fifteen hundred men collected at Fredericksburg 
from the upper country, prepared to march at a 
moment's warning to the defence of the capital, 
which Dunmore had threatened to lay in ashes at 
the first signal of insurrection. By the influence 
of Randolph, and other patriotic gentlemen, this 
large force was prevailed upon to abstain from 
active hostilities until the continental congress 
should decide upon the proper course to be pur- 
sued. Firm in his belief that the time for action 
had arrived, Patrick Henry alone refused to con- 
sent to any proposition involving delay. Placing 
himself at the head of his own company of volun- 



1775.] PREPARATIONS FOR RESISTANCE. 291 

teers from Hanover county, he marched at once 
upon Williamsburg. By the time he had reached 
Doncastle's ordinary, sixteen miles from the seat 
of government, his force had swelled to five hun- 
dred men. As he approached the city he was 
met by deputies from Williamsburg, accompanied 
by Corbin, the king's receiver, who consented to 
give bills for the value of the powder taken away. 
The particular cause of quarrel being thus re- 
moved, Henry returned to Hanover county, and 
on the 4th of May disbanded his followers. 

While the deputies were treating with Henry, 
Dunmore sent his family on board the Fowey 
man-of-war, and after fortifying his palace, gar- 
risoned it, in addition to his own armed servants, 
and the Shawanese hostages, with a party of ma- 
rines which he had ordered to his assistance from 
one of the ships in the river. 

These preparations for resistance, joined to the 
threat made by Captain Montague, that if his 
detachment met with any interruption, he would 
open a fire upon the town of York, brought on a 
renewal of the excitement. A proclamation by 
Dunmore declaring Henry and his followers guilty 
of rebellion, added fuel to the flame. 

Stimulated to increased activity, meetings were 
held in every county, and volunteers pledged 
themselves to be in readiness to march wherever 
their services might be required. In this threat- 
ening aspect of afiairs, Dunmore, fearing to trust 



292 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1775. 

himself beyond tlie walls of his palace, called his 
council together and asked their advice. They 
suggested that the marines should be dismissed, 
and an assembly convened. The governor re- 
luctantly consented. A brief period of quiet 
succeeded, but confidence was not restored. It 
was rumoured abroad that a scheme was being 
arranged for the seizure of the newly-elected 
deputies, who were openly warned to come pre- 
pared. Undeterred by the mysterious danger 
with which they were menaced, the delegates 
fearlessly set out for the capital. Those from 
distant counties entered Williamsburg dressed in 
their hunting shirts, and bearing their rifles. 
Nearly all who attended were armed. They had 
scarcely reached the city before an attempt was 
made to break open the magazine. In the act 
of entering it, a spring gun exploded, wounding 
one of the persons engaged in the affair. An 
alarming riot followed, and Dunmore, fearful for 
his personal safety, fled secretly by night, and 
took refuge on board the Fowey. 



1775.] FLIGHT OF DUNMORE. 293 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

Adjournment of the Virginia Assembly — Continental Congress 
— Washington appointed commander-in-chief — Battle of 
Bunker's Hill — Movements of Dunmore — Battle at Great 
Bridge — 'Norfolk evacuated — Bombarded and burned — Meet- 
ing of the Assembly — New constitution adopted — Declaratiou 
of Independence — Retreat of Dunmore — War at the north — 
Disastrous expedition against Quebec — Retreat of Washing- 
ton across the Jerseys — Battles of Trenton and Princeton — 
Campaign of 1777 — March of Burgoyne from Canada — Cap- 
ture of Ticonderoga — 'Surrender of Burgoyne- — 'Movements 
of Howe — Battles of Brandy wine and Germantown — Wash- 
ington retires to VaUey Forge — Treaty of alliance with 
France — Howe evacuates Philadelphia — Clinton retreats 
across the Jerseys — Battle of Monmouth — Arrival of a 
French fleet off the Capes — An attack upon Newport pro- 
jected — Its failure — Invasion of the southern states — Vir- 
ginia plundered by General Matthews. 

The flight of the governor was no sooner dis- 
covered, than the council and assembly agreed 
upon a joint address, entreating him to return to 
the palace, and offering to concur in any measure 
that might be considered necessary for his per- 
sonal security. On his refusal to do so, the 
assembly declared his office vacant, and appointed 
the president of the council in his place. They 
adjourned themselves soon after, having first 
agreed to meet in convention at Richmond, for 
the purpose of organizing a provisional govern- 
ment, and arranging a plan of defence. While 
the Virginia assembly were thus endeavouring to 

25* 



294 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1775. 

induce Dunmore to return to Williamsburg and 
resume the duties of his office, the continental 
congress, then in session at Philadelphia, after 
declaring that hostilities with Great Britain had 
commenced^ had appointed George Washington 
commander-in-chief of the continental army. 
This appointment was made on the 15th of June, 
1775. 

On the 17th, was fought the battle of Bunker's 
Hill. Four days afterward, Washington - left 
Philadelphia to assume command of the troops, 
then stationed at Cambridge. 

On the 17th of July, according to previous 
agreement, the Virginia convention met, entrusted 
the executive authority to a committee of safety, 
and ordered the immediate enlistment of two regi- 
ments of Minute Men. The royal government of 
Virginia was at an end. 

Dunmore, having with him several armed ves- 
sels and two companies of regulars, still hovered 
about Old Point Comfort, and threatened the 
lower counties. Hoping to create a diversion in 
his favour west of the mountains, he had sent to 
his former agent Conolly, the commission of a 
lieutenant-colonel ; but his project failed of suc- 
cess by the arrest of Conolly in Maryland, while 
returning from a visit to General Gage at Boston. 

Landing at Norfolk, then just rising into a 
town of some commercial importance, Dunmore 
seized a printing press, and on the 17th Novem- 



1775.] GREAT BRIDGE. 295 

ber, issued a proclamation, declaring martial law, 
and offering freedom to all slaves belonging to 
rebels who would join the royal standard. A 
large number of negroes and tories responded to 
the call. With this mixed force he commenced 
offensive operations. Marching to Kempsville, 
in Princess Anne county, he destroyed some arms 
collected there, and took several prisoners, among 
whom was Captain Mathews, of the Minute Men. 
Having threatened the inhabitants of Hampton 
with an attack, the committee of safety sent 
Colonel Woodford with a hundred riflemen to 
assist in defending the place. Before he could 
arrive^ six tenders, filled with men, entered Hamp- 
ton Creek, and endeavoured to effect a landing, 
for the purpose of burning and plundering the 
town ; but as the enemy approached the shore in 
boats, they were driven back by a party of con- 
cealed riflemen. Night set in ; and, in the mean 
time, the reinforcement under Woodford arrived. 
In the morning a second attempt to land was re- 
sisted with even greater success than the former; 
the enemy then withdrew to Norfolk. 

Desirous of striking a decisive blow, the com- 
mittee of safety determined to force Dunmore to 
evacuate Norfolk. Woodford's second Virginia 
regiment and the Culpepper battalion were or- 
dered upon this service. At Great Bridge, a few 
miles from Norfolk, the enemy occupied a stock- 
ade fort, which, being furnished with artillery, 



296 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1776. 

and strongly garrisoned, eifectually protected the 
approach to the city. Woodford threw up a 
breastwork at the end of the causeway, and 
waited for the arrival of reinforcements. De- 
ceived by a stratagem as to the number of the 
provincials, Captain Fordyce, at the head of three 
hundred and fifty regulars, tories, and negroes, 
sallied out from the fort on the morning of the 
ninth of December, 1775, to attack Woodford in 
his entrenchments. While advancing along the 
causeway, Fordyce fell mortally wounded, and 
his troops, after having sustained a loss of nearly 
one-third of their whole number, in an action 
which lasted only thirty minutes, gave way and 
retreated precipitately to the fort. Alarmed at 
this unexpected defeat, Dunmore hastily spiked 
his artillery, abandoned his works, and embarked 
with the remainder of his army on board the ves- 
sels in the harbour. Five davs after the skirmish 
at Great Bridge, the Virginians, reinforced by 
the North Carolina militia under Colonel Robert 
Howe, took possession of Norfolk, and opened a 
fire upon the British ships. In retaliation for 
this rash provocation, and for the rough treat- 
ment which certain royalists had experienced 
from the conquerors, Dunmore, strengthened by 
the arrival of the frigate Liverpool, bombarded 
the town on the first of January, 1776, and, land- 
ing a party of marines and seamen under cover 
of the cannonade, set fire to it in several places. 



1776.] INSTRUCTIONS TO DELEGATES. 297 

Of a thousand houses, nearly nine hundred were 
consumed. The remainder were destroyed soon 
after by order of the committee of safety. 

During the whole of the summer following, 
Dunmore, sailing up the various rivers of eastern 
Virginia, carried on a series of petty predatory 
incursions, by which the loyalists sustained great 
losses. Plantations were ravaged, houses were 
burned, and nearly a thousand slaves abducted 
from their masters. At length, although moving 
with celerity from point to point, and retreating 
to his boats whenever menaced with a serious 
attack, he found himself so continually harassed 
by armed parties of volunteers and militia, that he 
was constrained to withdraw his motley force, 
and retire to St. Augustine with the plunder he 
had accumulated. 

The general assembly of Virginia met at 
Williamsburg on the 6th of May, and after ap- 
pointing Edmund Pendleton president, and John 
Tazewell clerk, proceeded to the business before 
them. On the 15th of the month it was unani- 
mously agreed upon to instruct the Virginia 
delegation to the continental congress, then in 
session at Philadelphia, to propose in that body 
a formal declaration of independence, and the 
absolution of the United Colonies from all alle- 
giance to Great Britain. A committee was also 
appointed to prepare a declaration of rights, and 
a plan of government suitable to the new con- 



298 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1776. 

dition of the province. On the 29th the con- 
stitution, framed by George Mason, with a 
preamble sent by Jefferson from Philadelphia, 
was unanimously adopted. Patrick Henry re- 
ceived the appointment of governor. On the 5th 
of July the assembly adjourned. At Philadel- 
phia, the day previous, the declaration of Inde- 
pendence as drawn up by Jefferson was passed 
by Congress. It was proclaimed at Williamsburg 
on the 25th of the same month amid the firing of 
cannon, and the exulting shouts of the assembled 
people. 

The assembly again met on the 7th of October, 
1776, and appointed a committee to revise the 
state laws. By the strenuous efforts of Jefferson 
and Mason, an act was passed at this session, by 
which dissenters were relieved from the disabilities 
under which they had laboured previously, and 
all forms of religion placed upon an equal footing. 

From the retreat of Dunmore, until the sum- 
mer of 1779, the territory of Virginia was hap- 
pily exempted from that fearful condition of things 
which always accompanies the march of hostile 
armies. At the north, in the mean time, the 
forces sent over by Great Britain had been kept 
constantly engaged. The campaign of 1776 
opened disastrously for the American cause. 
The army ordered to attempt the reduction of 
Canada had met with a signal defeat before the 
walls of Quebec, where Montgomery, its heroic 



1776.] BATTLE OF TRENTON. 299 

leader, fell mortally wounded. The Virginians 
under Morgaip, though fighting bravely in the 
midst of the storm and darkness, were over- 
powered by numbers, and compelled to surrender 
themselves prisoners of war. 

During the campaign in Canada, reinforce- 
ments from England had raised the royalist army 
under Howe, to twenty-four thousand men. To 
oppose this large body of disciplined troops, the 
American commander-in-chief had a force of 
about twenty thousand provincials, badly equip- 
ped, yielding but little military obedience, and 
rendered inharmonious by sectional jealousies. 
The defeat of Putnam on Long Island, compelled 
Washington to abandon New York to the British 
and retreat across the Jerseys. With his troops 
dally diminishing from the expiration of their 
term of service, from sickness, and desertion, 
he crossed the Delaware on the 7th of December, 
at the head of a dispirited army, reduced to three 
thousand five hundred effective men. One bright 
gleam, however, shed a lustre over the close of 
the campaign. With twenty-five hundred picked 
men, and six pieces of artillery, Washington 
secretly recrossed the Delaware, on the night of 
the twenty-fifth of December, 1776, entered 
Trenton the following morning in the midst of a 
snow storm, surprised a body of fifteen hundred 
Hessians stationed at that place, took one thou- 
sand of them prisoners of war, and captured their 



300 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1777. 

artillery. Astonished at a reverse so little ex- 
pected, Howe immediately directed Cornwallis to 
take command of the British force quartered at 
Princeton, and attack Washington in his camp 
at Trenton. Finding his position a dangerous 
one, and retreat difficult in the face of an enemy 
equal in numbers and far superior in arms and 
discipline, Washington adopted the bold expedient 
of occupying the attention of Cornwallis in front, 
while the provincial army retreated silently from 
camp and fell upon his rear. The manoeuvre 
succeeded. Near to Princeton three regiments 
of British regulars on their march to join Corn- 
wallis, were attacked and broken, with the loss of 
three hundred men taken prisoners. Washington 
then retired to winter quarters at Morristown, 
while Cornwallis encamped at New Brunswick. 

The British plan of the campaign of 1777 w^as 
in many respects similar to that formerly recom- 
mended to the French government by De Callier, 
the design being to separate the New England 
states from the middle and southern colonies, by 
opening a communication between New York and 
Canada. In pursuance of this project. General 
Burgoyne left Canada with an army of eight 
thousand men, captured Ticonderoga, dispersed 
the greater part of the garrison under St. Clair, 
in their retreat to join Schuyler at Fort Edward, 
and obtained complete command of lakes George 
and Champlain. Hitherto Burgoyne had been 



1778.] PHILADELPHIA EVACUATED. 301 

successful at every point. He was now to ex- 
perience a series of reverses, which weakened the 
confidence of his troops, lost him the support of 
his Indian allies, and finally enveloped him in 
such a network of difficulties, as constrained him 
to surrender, on the 17th of October, the whole 
of his army to General Gates. 

In the mean while, the successes of Sir William 
Howe had created great excitement in the south- 
ern and middle states. Sailing up the Chesa- 
peake, he landed at the head of Elk, advanced 
toward Philadelphia, defeated the American army 
under Washington at the battles of Brandywine 
and Germantown, captured the defences on the 
Delaware, and thereby enabled the British fleet 
to co-operate with the army. The winter being 
close at hand, Washington went into quarters at 
Valley Forge. 

The event of greatest importance in the year 
1778, was the treaty of defensive alliance signed 
between France and the American colonies. 
Fearful of the river Delaware being blockaded by 
a French fleet, Howe concluded to evacuate Phila- 
delphia, and ordered Clinton to retreat across 
the Jerseys to New York. On the 19th of June, 
the British army, twelve thousand strong, crossed 
the Delaware, and took up its line of march. 
Washington at once started in pursuit. On the 
28th of the same month, the enemy encamped at 
Monmouth Court House. The following morning 

26 



80 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1778. 

Washington ordered Lee, who commanded the 
advance, to press forward and commence the ac- 
tion. Lee did so, but in a short time retreated. 
The troops were rallied by Washington, and a 
sharp but indecisive engagement ensued. Under 
cover of the darkness, the British gained the high 
lands of Nevisink, where they occupied a position 
secure from attack. From Nevisink, Clinton 
embarked on board of Howe's fleet, and returned 
to New York, barely escaping a French squad- 
ron of sixteen ships, commanded by the Count 
D'Estaing, and having on board four thousand 
French troops, which arrived oflf the Delaware a 
few days later. 

Desirous of profiting at once by this fortunate 
event, Washington arranged with the French 
commander a plan of attack on Newport, Rhode 
Island, where six thousand of the enemy were 
garrisoned. General Sullivan, with a strong 
division of the continental army, was ordered to 
co-operate with D'Estaing on this service ; but 
the latter being led away by the prospect of 
bringing the British fleet to an engagement, Sul- 
livan was compelled to abandon his position in 
front of the town, and retreat hastily across the 
island to the main land. 

Foiled in their efl'orts to reduce the northern 
states, the main strength of the British arms was 
now directed against the south. Georgia was 
invaded by an armj of three thousand five bun- 



1778.] DEVASTATION BY THE BRITISH. 303 

dred men, commanded bj Colonel Campbell, 
which, forming a junction with the force under 
Prevost, Governor of Florida, captured Savannah, 
and speedily overran the whole province. 

In the mean while, Clinton, who had succeeded 
Howe as commander-in-chief of the British forces 
in America, despatched General Matthews from 
New York, with twenty-five hundred men, to 
commence operations against Virginia. The 
squadron having these troops on board, entered 
Hampton Roads early in May, and Matthews im- 
mediately entered upon a career of plunder and 
devastation. He took possession of Fort Nelson 
and the town of Portsmouth, recaptured Norfolk, 
and destroyed both there, and at Gosport, large 
quantities of naval and military stores. One 
hundred and thirty merchant vessels were either 
captured or burned in the James and Elizabeth 
rivers, and a frigate and nine smaller ships of 
war on the stocks at Gosport, were also consumed 
by fire. Three thousand hogsheads of tobacco 
formed a portion of the plunder acquired by this 
expedition, W'hich, though remaining within the 
limits of the province but a few days, inflicted a 
damage upon public and private property amount- 
ing in the aggregate to two millions of dollars. 



304 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1780. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Clinton embarks for the south — Capture of Charleston — Gates 
appointed to command the southern continental army. — His 
defeat at Camden — Leslie sent to Virginia — Greene super- 
sedes Gates — Arnold in Virginia — La Fayette ordered to re- 
inforce Steuben — General Phillips forms a junction with 
Arnold — Destruction of stores at Yorktovvn — Petersburg 
captured — Advance of Cornwallis — Battle of Cowpens — Re- 
treat of Greene — Marches against Rawdon — Cornwallis 
reaches Petersburg — ^Expeditions of Simcoe and Tarleton — 
March of Cornwallis to Portsmouth — Skirmish near James- 
town — The British army concentrated at York and Gloucester 
— Movements of the allied forces under Washington and 
Rochambeau — Arrival of the French fleet in the Chesapeake 
— Yorktown invested — Incidents of the siege — Capitulation 
of Cornwallis — Negotiations for peace. 

The subjugation of Georgia was no sooner 
completed, than the conquest of the Carolinas 
was resolved upon. Previous efforts to obtain 
possession of Charleston having failed, Clinton 
determined to attempt its reduction in person. 
Leaving Kniphausen with a strong garrison in 
New York, he embarked on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, 1779, for Savannah, with seven thousand 
troops. After completing his arrangements at 
the latter port, he sailed for the harbour of 
Charleston, which he entered early in April, and 
proceeded at once to invest the town. On the 14th 
of April, 1780, two continental regiments stationed 
at Monk's Corner to keep open the communica- 



1780.] CAPTURE OF CHARLESTON. 305 

tion with the country north of Broad River, were 
surprised by Tarleton, and effectually dispersed. 
Fort Moultrie, threatened by sea and land, sur- 
rendered on the 6th of May. In the mean time, 
Clinton with the main army was pressing forward 
with great vigour his operations against the town, 
which was obstinately but unsuccessfully defended 
by General Lincoln. Finding himself complete- 
ly surrounded, and with no hope of receiving 
succour from without, Lincoln at length decided 
to open negotiations, which resulted in yielding 
up the city and surrendering its garrison as pri- 
soners of war. Clinton had no sooner acquired 
possession of Charleston than he spread his forces 
over the interior of the state. As no opposition 
was offered, the conquest was speedily completed. 
Having re-established the royal government, and 
placed four thousand troops under Cornwallis to 
maintain his conquest, Clinton returned with the 
remainder of his forces to New York. 

So soon as the capitulation of Lincoln became 
known to Congress, that body appointed General 
Gates to command the continental army in the 
south. Pushing forward at once to overtake the 
Maryland and Delaware battalions under De Kalb, 
which had already been detached for service in 
that quarter, he came up with them at the Deep 
River, a tributary of the Cape Fear. 

Apprehensive of danger, Lord Rawdon, com- 
manding the British advanced posts in South 

26* 



306 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1780. 

Carolina, immediately called in his detachments, 
and concentrated his forces at Camden. Gates 
marched at once upon that point by the most direct 
route, gathering strength from Virginia and the 
Carolinas as he proceeded, until his army was in- 
creased to six thousand men. Cornwallis, advised 
of his approach, hastened from Charleston, formed 
a junction with Rawdon, and at daybreak on the 
6th of August, encountered the southern provin- 
cial army in the vicinity of Camden. Gates, rash 
as he was vain, was utterly defeated, and his 
troops, routed and pursued, were driven into the 
swamps and effectually dispersed. 

When Clinton heard of the defeat of Gates, 
supposing that Cornwallis, taking advantage of 
his victory at Camden, would proceed at once 
across North Carolina, and attempt to overrun 
A^irginia, he despatched from New York three 
thousand men, under Colonel Leslie, to the Chesa- 
peake Bay, for the purpose of co-operating with 
the southern army. But Cornwallis, weakened by 
the defeat of Ferguson at King's Mountain, and 
wanting both supplies and reinforcements, was in 
no condition to advance. Under these circum- 
stances, Leslie's movements were crippled. Land- 
ing at Portsmouth, he took possession of a few 
vessels, plundered some of the plantations on the 
coast, and then set sail for South Carolina. 

In the mean time, Congress had directed Gene- 
ral Greene to reorganize and take command of 



1780.] ARNOLD IN VIRGINIA. 307 

the southern continental army. On his way to 
the headquarters of Gates at Charlotte, in North 
Carolina, Greene left Baron Steuhen in Virginia 
to collect recruits, and to assist in defending the 
state against an expedition, then fitting out at 
New York. 

On the 30th of December, 1780, the traitor 
Arnold entered the Chesapeake with a fleet of 
fifty sail, proceeded with nine hundred men to the 
falls of the James River, and took possession of 
Richmond without opposition. Sending out a 
detachment of light horse under Colonel Simcoe 
to "Westham, the latter destroyed the cannon 
foundry at that place, and such stores as had 
been hastily removed there from Richmond. 

Descending the James River, a few days after, 
Arnold returned to Portsmouth, plundering and 
destroying as he went. 

The principal part of the Virginia troops 
having joined the army under Greene, Steuben, 
finding himself too weak to enter upon offensive 
operations with the militia which had been hastily 
collected, was compelled to confine himself to 
watching the invaders, and restricting their ope- 
rations. The presence of Arnold in Virginia no 
sooner became known to Washington, than he 
formed a project for the capture of the traitor. 
In pursuance of the plan he had devised. General 
La Fayette was sent with twelve hundred conti- 
nentals to reinforce Steuben, and to co-operate 



308 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1781. 

"With the French squadron, which presently sailed 
from Newport for the Chesapeake Bay. The 
scheme, though well devised, was destined to be 
frustrated. A naval engagement took place off 
the Capes, between the British and French fleets, 
in which the latter being worsted, were obliged to 
return to their former anchorage at Newport. 

By the activity of Clinton, a detachment of 
two thousand men, commanded by Major-general 
Phillips, was soon after sent to the assistance of 
Arnold, and the combined forces, supported by 
the British squadron, speedily renewed the old 
system of plunder and devastation. 

Leaving one thousand men to garrison Ports- 
mouth, Phillips sailed up the James River, and 
after sending a detachment to destroy the naval 
stores collected at Yorktown, proceeded to Pe- 
tersburg, where Steuben with a body of militia, 
less than one thousand in number, attempted to 
oppose his progress. After a sharp skirmish, 
which lasted for about two hours, Steuben retired 
with his troops to the opposite side of the Appo- 
mattox. On the 25th of April, 1781, Phillips 
entered the town, where he captured and burned, 
during the following day, four thousand hogsheads 
of tobacco. Crossing the Appomattox, he marched 
to Chesterfield Court-house, set fire to the build- 
ings erected at that place for the reception of 
recruits for the army under Greene, and destroyed 
the provisions and stores collected there. 



1781.] RETREAT OF GREENE. 809 

In the mean time, Arnold proceeded to Os- 
borne's, where he burned a quantity of tobacco. 
So soon as Arnold's detachment had formed a 
junction "with the main army, Phillips proceeded 
to Manchester, a small village opposite to Rich- 
mond. The arrival of La Fayette in that vicinity, 
induced Phillips to re-embark his troops, and fall 
down the James River ; but learning on his way 
that Cornwallis was advancing into Virginia, he 
relanded his troops at City Point, and Brandon, 
and returned hastily to Petersburg, to form a 
junction with that oflScer. Suffering under a se- 
vere attack of bilious fever, Phillips died a few 
days after reaching the city. The command of 
the army then devolved on Arnold. 

During the progress of these events in Vir- 
ginia, Cornwallis had been actively engaged in 
South Carolina against Greene, and the partizan 
officers by whom the latter was supported. By 
the defeat of Tarleton at the <«Cowpens," the 
British lost six hundred men ; but reinforced the 
next day by the troops under Leslie, Cornwallis 
pressed forward in pursuit of Morgan, hoping to 
intercept him before he should be able to form a 
junction with Greene. In this, however, he was not 
successful. The provincial forces were united, and 
Greene evinced a determination to defend the 
passage of the Catawba. The fords being forced 
by the enemy, Greene, closely pursued, fell back 
upon the Yadkin. He had scarcely crossed it 



310 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1781. 

before the British van came up, but only suc- 
ceeded in capturing a few wagons. 

A sudden rise in the river effectually prevent- 
ing the enemy from crossing for several days, 
Greene continued on to Guilford Court-house, 
from whence he retreated by a forced march into 
Virginia. 

Cornwallis had no sooner returned to the in- 
terior of North Carolina, than Greene recrossed 
the Dan, and threw out skirmishing parties to 
keep the tories in check on the Haw and Deep 
Rivers, and to harass detached parties of the 
enemy's regulars. Being reinforced during the 
early part of March, 1781, by detachments of 
continental troops from Virginia and Maryland, 
and by a large body of volunteers from Virginia 
and Carolina, he advanced to Guilford Court- 
house, and offered battle to Cornwallis. On the 
15th of March, an engagement took place. It 
ended in the defeat of the provincials, who sus- 
tained a loss of four hundred men. 

Unable to follow up his victory from a scarcity 
of provisions, Cornwallis withdrew to Wilmington, 
w^hile Greene halted at Deep River. In the hope 
of drawing Cornwallis in pursuit of him, and thus 
relieving North Carolina from the domination of 
the enemy, Greene determined to push forward 
into South Carolina, and attack Rawdon, who, 
with nine hundred men, was stationed at Camden. 
When the news of this movement reached 



1781.] DESIGN TO CAPTURE JEFFERSON. 311 

Comwallis, Greene was already too far on his 
way to be pursued with any prospect of advantage. 
Leaving Rawdon, therefore, to maintain himself 
as well as he could, Cornwallis turned his steps 
northward, and penetrating into Virginia, formed 
a junction at Petersburg, on the 20th of May, 
with the British force under Arnold. 

Receiving soon after a reinforcement of four 
regiments from New York, he so far outnumbered 
the troops under La Fayette, that the latter 
was compelled to retire from Richmond toward 
the Rappahannock, for the purpose of meeting 
Wayne, who was advancing to join the southern 
army with a detachment of the Pennsylvania line, 
amounting to nearly a thousand men. 

Cornwallis at once started in pursuit, but find- 
ing it impossible to prevent a junction of the pro- 
vincial forces, he turned his attention toward 
breaking up the detached posts in the interior 
of the state. A light infantry party under Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Simcoe was sent against Steuben, 
who was stationed with six hundred men at the 
junction of the Rivanna and Fluvanna Rivers, in 
charge of the military stores collected at that 
point ; while Tarleton, with a body of cavalry, 
was ordered to push on to Charlottesville, where 
the assembly was in session, to seize the burges- 
ses, and to attempt the capture of Jefferson, who 
had succeeded Patrick Henry as governor of the 
state, and resided in that vicinity. The expedi- 



812 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1781. 

tion under Simcoe succeeded in forcing Steuben 
to retreat, and in destroying the laboratory and 
armory which had been placed under his protec- 
tion. That under Tarleton was a partial failure. 
Seven of the burgesses, and twelve wagons, loaded 
with military stores fell into his hands, but Jef- 
ferson and the remainder of the delegates made 
good their escape. The two detachments having 
formed a junction, proceeded down the James 
River, ravaging the country on both sides of the 
stream, until they were called in to unite with 
the main army. 

In the mean time, Clinton fearing an attack 
upon New York, by the combined American and 
French forces, had sent orders to Cornwallis to 
march toward the coast and take up such a 
position as would enable him to embark his 
troops in the event of their services being re- 
quired. In obedience to these instructions, 
Cornwallis marced toward Williamsburg, which 
he entered on the 28th of June. La Fayette, 
reinforced by the levies under Steuben, hovered 
closely in his rear. At the crossing of the river 
opposite Jamestown, the provincial troops at- 
tacked the British with great spirit, but after a 
sharp action were beaten ofif with loss. On reach- 
ing Portsmouth, Cornwallis was met by fresh in- 
structions from Sir Henry Clinton, directing him 
to take up a strong position and hold himself in 
readiness for future orders. Finding Portsmouth 



1781.] MOVEMENT AGAINST CORNWALLIS. 313 

unsuited for such a purpose, he selected the pe- 
ninsulas of York and Gloucester, as being more 
central and easier of access by the frigates and 
vessels -which accompanied him. On the 1st of 
August, 1781, he concentrated the whole of his 
army at those points, which he strengthened 
soon after by a line of redoubts. 

The grand drama of the revolution was now 
approaching its close. The expected arrival in 
the Chesapeake of a French fleet from the West 
Indies, enabled Washington to concert, with the 
Count de Rochambeau, a plan of operations, 
having for its object the capture of Cornwallis. 
Orders were immediately despatched to La Fay- 
ette, advising him of the intended movement, and 
directing him to occupy such a position as would 
prevent the retreat of the British into North 
Carolina. 

After executing various manoeuvres, by which 
the attention of Sir Henry Clinton was diverted 
from the real object of attack, the combined 
French and American forces marched, with great 
secrecy and rapidity, across the Jerseys to Phila- 
delphia. Proceeding from the latter city to the 
head of Elk, in Maryland, they embarked in 
transports already collected at that point, and 
floating down the Chesapeake, formed a junction 
with the troops under La Fayette, at Williams- 
burg, toward the close of September. 

In the mean time, the Count de Grasse had 

27 



314 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1781. 

succeeded in entering the Chesapeake with a fleet 
of twentj-six ships of the line, and several 
frigates. This large naval force was increased 
soon after by the arrival of the French squadron 
from Newport, under the Count de Barras. 

The plan of operations having been definitely 
settled between Washington and the French com- 
manders, the allied army, amounting to sixteen 
thousand men, marched from the camp at Wil- 
liamsburg, and on the 30th of September, com- 
pletely invested Yorktown, where the main body 
of the British force, eight thousand strong, had 
been concentrated. 

During the first week in October, the besiegers 
were occupied in opening intrenchments, con- 
structing breastworks, and in bringing up the 
heavy cannon and mortars from the ships. By 
the 8th of October, the first parallel, nearly two 
miles in extent, was completed. The next day, 
three batteries being prepared to open upon the 
town, Washington applied the match to the first 
gun with his own hands, and a furious cannonade 
immediately commenced. From the 10th to the 
14th, the batteries of the allied forces kept up a 
tremendous and incessant firing upon the enemy, 
which was but feebly and ineflfectually returned. 

An event of unusual interest occurred on the 
14th, in the simultaneous storming of two of the 
enemy's advanced redoubts, by two parties of 
picked men, the one body being wholly composed 



1781.] CAPITULATION OF CORNWALLIS. 315 

of French grenadiers and chasseurs, and the 
other of American light infantry. The van of 
the latter was commanded by Colonel Alexander 
Hamilton, who, after addressing his men in a 
speech of remarkable power and eloquence, led 
them to the attack with unloaded muskets, and 
carried the works at the point of the bayonet. 
The French storming party were equally suc- 
cessful. The captured redoubts being enclosed 
in the second parallel, the defences of the enemy 
gradually became untenable beneath the constant 
fire of the besiegers. On the night of the 16th, 
Cornwallis came to the desperate resolution of 
crossing his troops over to Gloucester Point, and 
by cutting his way through the small French force 
stationed there, endeavour to make good his re- 
treat to New York. A part of his troops were 
actually embarked, but a violent storm arising, 
the boats, after being driven for some distance 
down the river, were compelled to put back to 
Yorktown. 

Hemmed in on the one side by the French 
squadron, and on the other by the American and 
French land forces, with his defences nearly bat- 
tered down, his ammunition almost exhausted, 
his provisions gone, and with no hope of receiving 
succour from Sir Henry Clinton, Cornwallis, on 
the 17th of October, proposed a cessation of hos- 
tilities, and the appointment of commissioners to 
arrange the terms of a capitulation. Articles 



316 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1781. 

were finally agreed upon, by which seven thou- 
sand British troops, with all the materiel of war, 
were surrendered to the American force ; while 
the British ships, seamen, and naval stores, were 
given up to the combined French squadrons. 

The final act of capitulation was peculiarly 
impressive. At the hour of noon, on the 19th of 
October, the combined army was drawn up facing 
each other, in two parallel lines, extending more 
than a mile in length. The Americans occupied 
the right side of the road, and the French the 
left. On horseback, at the head of the former, 
sat Washington, attended by his aids. At the 
head of the latter, was posted the Count Rochara- 
beau and his suite. The French troops were in 
complete uniform. The American forces were 
variously habited, and bore evidence of the toils 
and privations through which they had struggled 
to a crowning triumph. Outside these lines, and 
thronging the fields beyond, was a prodigious 
concourse of spectators, attracted thither by the 
imposing nature of the ceremony about to be per- 
formed. About two o'clock, and in the midst of 
profound silence, the captive troops, newly uni- 
formed, marched from the town, and defiled 
slowly between the lines formed for their recep- 
tion, with shouldered arms, colours cased, and 
drums beating. All eyes were anxiously turned 
to gaze upon their leader, but under the plea of 
illness, Cornwallis had transferred the command 



1781.] CAPITULATION AT TOKKTOWN. 317 

to General O'Hara. When the latter arrived at 
the head of the line, he approached Washington 
and apologized for the absence of the commander- 
in-chief. General Lincoln was then directed to 
superintend the surrender, which was accom- 
plished in a spacious field near by. The mortifi- 
cation of the British troops at being compelled to 
ground their arms in the presence of their con- 
querors, was so rudely manifested in the violence 
with which they divested themselves of their ac- 
coutrements, and threw down their muskets upon 
the pile, as to call forth a strong rebuke from Lin- 
coln. Many of their officers were even more 
deeply afi'ected. Colonel Abercrombie — the same 
who afterward distinguished himself in Egypt, 
and fell mortally wounded at the moment of vic- 
tory — no sooner witnessed the surrender of his 
troops, then he withdrew rapidly, covering his 
face, and biting his sword. 

But if the capitulation at Yorktown was a 
source of profound humiliation to the enemy, it 
was productive of the happiest results to the 
American colonies. The War of Independence 
was virtually closed. Hostilities continued how- 
ever to be prosecuted in a languid manner, for 
some time after, in the south ; but it soon became 
evident that England, growing weary of a contest 
from which she derived no hope of regaining her 
lost authority, was desirous of bringing it to a 
close. Accordingly, early in 1782, negotiations 

27* 



318 HISTORY OE VIRGINIA. [1783. 

were opened for a peace, and on the 3d of Febru- 
ary, 1783, a provisional treaty was concluded. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Close of the war — Exhausted condition of the country — Cession 
of the public lands — Convention at Philadelphia — Adoption 
of the Federal Constitution — Opposition in Virginia — Origin 
of the Federalists and Republicans — Fears respecting the 
constitution — Repudiation of British claims — Opinion of 
Washington — Increasing prosperity of the Union — Diffi- 
culties with France — Alien and sedition laws — Madison's 
resolutions — Slavery — Fears of Virginia — Acts passed in re- 
lation to — Difficulties with England — English and French de- 
crees — Commercial distress — Declaration of war — Patriotism 
of Virginia — Peace proclaimed — Revisions of the Constitu- 
tion — Servile insurrection — Vv'ar with Mexico — Past condition 
of Virginia — Present prospects — System of internal ijnprove- 
ment — Relation of Virginia to the states. 

The exhausted condition in which the several 
confederate states were left at the close of the 
war, rendered the first few years that followed a 
period of intense anxiety at home, and of curious 
speculation abroad. Burdened with debt, im- 
perfectly united to each other, the commercial 
interests of the north conflicting with the agri- 
cultural interests of the south, at issue with 
respect to boundaries, and with the smaller states 
suspicious of the larger, the independence which 
had been achieved threatened to degenerate 
speedily into anarchy, unless the danger should 
be averted by mutual acts of concession and com- 



1786.] CESSION OF PUBLIC LANDS. 319 

promise. Happily, that patriotism which had 
stimulated them to stand shoulder to shoulder in 
the great struggle for independence, now animated 
them to rise superior to all sectional considera- 
tions, and to work together for the general good. 

The first, and most striking evidence of har- 
monious action between the states, was the cession 
to the federal government of the western lands. 
In this surrender of territory, both from the 
magnitude of her claims, and the validity of her 
title, either by patent or by conquest, Virginia 
was peculiarly conspicuous. But, although one 
of the objects of this grant of lands to the federal 
government was for the purpose of providing 
means by their sale for the gradual liquidation 
of the national debt, the process was necessarily 
slow; and in the mean time, the people of the 
several states were reduced by the expenses of 
the war, by the depressed condition of trade, and 
by the claims of their British creditors, to a state 
of bankruptcy and partial insurrection. 

The powers vested in the old continental con- 
gress being wholly insufficient to remedy evils of 
such magnitude, Virginia took the lead in pro- 
posing a re-organization of the federal govern- 
ment. Delegates from six states accordingly met 
at Annapolis, in September, 1786; but finding 
themselves too few in number to carry out efi'ec- 
tively the wishes of their constituents, they re- 
solved to adjourn, having first recommended a 



820 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1788, 

convention, to be composed of delegates from all 
the states, to meet at Philadelphia, the following 
Maj. This recommendation was finally carried 
into effect. On the 14th of May, 178T, the con- 
vention assembled at Philadelphia, elected Wash- 
ington its presiding officer, and, after a stormy 
session of four months, adopted, on the 17th of 
September, the present Constitution of the United 
States. 

The new constitution was immediately laid be- 
fore the Continental Congress, then in session at 
New York, which, after some hesitation, trans- 
mitted a copy of it to each legislature, and 
recommended that state conventions should be 
called to decide upon its approval or rejection. 

In the Virginia convention, which met at Rich- 
mond, in June, 1788, the ratification of the new 
constitution was strongly opposed by Patrick 
Henry and George Mason; but met with able 
advocates in Madison, Wythe, and Edmund Ran- 
dolph. After a long and animated series of 
debates, all opposition was silenced, and on the 
27th of June, the constitution w^as adopted by 
Virginia, subject, however, to certain amend- 
ments, which were to be submitted to the other 
states for approval. 

But, although the constitution was finally 
ratified by the whole of the states, its friends 
were scarcely more numerous than its opponents. 
Por a long time after it went into operation, a 



1789.] CONSTITUTION AMENDED. 321 

general doubt of its successful working pervaded 
the public mind. Some believed that it would 
lead to a breaking up of the confederation ; some 
thought the powers intrusted to congress and the 
executive were too extensive ; while others con- 
tended that the executive authority was altogether 
too weak and dependent. These opposite opi- 
nions resulted in the formation of two great par- 
ties, the friends of the constitution acquiring the 
name of Federalists, while those who were hostile 
to many of its provisions, assumed the title of 
Republicans. 

The Virginia assembly, which met in Novem- 
ber, 1788, were so fully impressed with the belief 
that the constitution required amendment in 
many of its most essential articles, that, following 
the example of New York, they framed an address 
to the federal Congress, advocating the call of a 
new convention, for the purpose of revising that 
instrument. Fortunately, perhaps, for the integ- 
rity of the Union, the suggestion was not adopted. 
The moderate men of both parties, conscious of 
the difficulty which had attended the framing of 
the system of government just established, were 
unwilling to retrace their steps over ground so 
dangerous. Some changes they conceded to be 
necessary, and accordingly, at the session of the 
first Congress in 1789, out of seventeen amend- 
ments proposed, twelve passed both houses, ten 
of which, being subsequently sanctioned by a 



822 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1789. 

majority of the state legislatures^ became a part 
of the Constitution. 

Notwithstanding these well-meant efforts at 
conciliation, several of the states were far from 
being satisfied. Prominent among these stood 
Virginia. Fearful that the creation of a strong 
central power would tend to weaken the sove- 
reignty of the states, many of the most eminent 
men, at the head of whom was Patrick Henry, 
adopted, from the first, opinions strongly anti- 
federal. The great mass of the people of the 
state also arrayed themselves on the same side, 
being insensibly led into opposition by the dread 
of having to pay the old debts due to British 
merchants, for the collection of which the federal 
constitution was supposed to furnish additional 
facilities. These debts, amounting in the aggre- 
gate to ten millions of dollars, "had become 
hereditary from father to son for many genera- 
tions, so that the planters were a species of pro- 
perty annexed to certain mercantile houses in 
London." Beggared as they already were from 
losses sustained during the w^ar, and from the 
expenses of a contest so protracted, many of the 
planters, acting under the impulse of self-preser- 
vation, were not unwilling to repudiate claims, 
which they felt themselves incapable of liquidating 
"without reducing their families to absolute penury. 

The prevalence of a similar feeling, induced 
many of the state legislatures to pass laws to 



1789.] POLITICAL DIFFICULTIES. 323 

prevent the collection of debts by British mer- 
chants ; and as these acts were in direct violation 
of the fourth article of the treaty, Great Britain 
refused to surrender the western and north-western 
posts until the claims of her subjects were satis- 
factorily adjusted. 

The fine moral sense of Washington could not 
witness this infraction of the treaty without openly 
protesting against it. He deeply regretted that 
Great Britain should have any pretext for still 
retaining possession of any part of the territory 
confessedly belonging to the United States, and 
of exercising thereby a dangerous control over 
the Indian tribes which were scattered along the 
frontiers. "The distresses of individuals," said 
he, '«are to be alleviated by industry and fru- 
gality, and not by a relaxation of the laws, or by 
a sacrifice of the rights of others." 

Notwithstanding the ominous misgivings of 
many true patriots, the country slowly recovered 
from the extreme prostration into which it had 
fallen, and the prediction of Washington, that 
the day was coming when America, weak as she 
then was, would have some weight in the scale 
of empire, was in the sure process of fulfilment. 
The eight years during which that great and 
good man occupied the presidential chair, were 
years of trouble and difficulty ; but it was upon 
the succeeding administration of the elder Adams 



324 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1789- 

that the storm of political opposition most fiercely 
vented itself. 

From the period of the arrival of Genet, as 
ambassador of the new French republic, in 1793, 
to the year 1798, the American nation had been 
subjected by that ill regulated power to a series 
of insults and injuries. Repeated efforts at re- 
dress having signally failed, a war appeared at 
length to be inevitable. For the purpose of pro- 
tecting the administration at this crisis from in- 
ternal and external enemies, the famous, but un- 
wise, alien and sedition laws were passed. 

By the first act, in relation to aliens, no 
foreigner could become a citizen unless he had 
previously resided in the United States for a 
period of fourteen years. 

By a second act, limited in its operation to 
two years, the president was authorized to order 
out of the country all such aliens as he might 
judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the 
United States ; while by a third, all aliens, resi- 
dent in the country after war had been declared, 
upon a proclamation issued by the president, 
might be apprehended, or secured, or removed. 

The sedition law, which was to continue in 
force for three years, was not less stringent. 
The first section imposed a fine not exceeding 
five thousand dollars, imprisonment from six 
months to five years, and binding to good be- 
haviour at the discretion of the court, " for any 



1798.] ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. 325 

persons unlawfully to combine and conspire 
together, with intent to oppose any measures of 
the government of the United States, directed by 
proper authority, or to impede the operation of 
any law of the United States, or to intimidate, 
or prevent any person holding office from the 
execution of his trust, or to commit, advise, or at- 
tempt to procure any insurrrection, riot, unlaw- 
ful assembly, or combination." 

These laws met with the most vehement op- 
position in Virginia. A number of resolutions, 
drawn up by Jefferson, had already passed the 
legislature of Kentucky, in which the doctrine of 
state rights was advocated with great boldness 
and ability, and the alien and sedition laws de- 
clared void and of no force. In December, 1798, 
resolutions of a similar character, drafted by 
Madison, were adopted by the legislature of Vir- 
ginia. 

The preamble to these resolutions declared 
that the powers of the federal government re- 
sulted only from a compact to which the states 
were parties ; and that in case of the exercise 
of powers not granted by the compact, the states 
possessed the right to interpose for the correction 
of the evil. 

After expressing " deep regret at a spirit 
manifested by the federal government to enlarge 
its powers by a forced construction of the con- 
stitutional charter, and by an improper iilter- 

2S 



826 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1798. 

pretation of certain phrases, to consolidate the 
states into one sovereignty, the obvious tendency 
and result of which would be, to transform the 
present republican system into an absolute or at 
best a mixed monarchy," the resolutions closed 
with a strong protest against the alien and sedi- 
tion laws, as " palpable and alarming infractions 
of the constitution." 

But these opinions found only a partial sup- 
port in the other states of the Union ; and sub- 
sequent experience has shown that the fears, 
which were at that day so earnestly entertained 
by many of the best and purest statesmen of the 
republic, were based upon an incorrect apprecia- 
tion of the intelligence and capacity of the people. 

From this period, until the war of 1812, the 
history of the State of Virginia presents but few 
points of interest to the general reader. Silently 
increasing in wealth and numbers, the great mass 
of the population gradually became warmly attach- 
ed to that system of federal government which at 
first they had regarded with so many ominous 
misgivings. The only source of remaining doubt 
arose from sectional differences in regard to sla- 
very. The abolition, therefore, of the slave trade 
by Congress, was not viewed by any of the south- 
ern states without serious alarm, lest it should 
be followed by measures more directly interfer- 
ing with that species of property. This feeling 
of insecurity was increased in Virginia by the 



1805.] DIFFICULTIES WITH ENGLAND. 327 

consciousness that two attempts at servile insur- 
rection had already occurred during the years 
1799 and 1801. It influenced the legislature of 
1805 to pass a law, which authorized the appre- 
hension and sale of all emancipated slaves re- 
maining in the state for twelve months after ob- 
taining their freedom ; forbade the education of 
orphan coloured children left in charge of the 
overseers of the poor; and ordered such free 
blacks as entered the state, to be sent back to 
the places from whence they came. 

A deeper source of anxiety arose soon after in 
the critical relations of the United States with 
regard to foreign powers, but more especially 
with England. 

After a long and sanguinary war, the genius 
of Napoleon had subjected every nation to his 
arbitrary will, with the exception of Great Britain. 
The fierce struggle for supremacy between these 
two powers led to infractions of the rights of 
neutrals, which were endured for a long time by 
the Americans, for the sake of the profitable 
carrying trade which the war in Europe had 
thrown into their hands. 

At length England, jealous of the growing 
naval power of the United States, determined to 
check its increase by laying many of the French 
ports under embargo, and by declaring the ves- 
sels of neutrals bearing French products to be 
lawful prize. Napoleon retaliated by the famous 



328 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1809». 

Berlin decree, which was issued from the battle- 
field of Jena on the 21st of November, 1806. 
This decree declared the British Islands in a 
state of blockade, and prohibited all trade in 
English merchandise. ; 

The effect of these acts was to put almost an 
entire stop to commercial enterprise in the Uni- 
ted States ; but the hope was still entertained 
that, either by negotiation or remonstrance, the 
causes for complaint would be eventually removed. 
Such hopes proved fallacious. Difficulties arose 
soon after with England in relation to the right 
of impressment, which an unprovoked attack 
upon the Chesapeake by the English frigate 
Leopard, off the Capes of Virginia, complicated 
still further. 

The commercial states were not, however, as 
yet prepared to consent to a declaration of war, 
and various ineflfectual measures were resorted 
to, during the four succeeding years, in the effort 
to avoid an appeal to arms. 

In 1807, the ports of the United States were 
closed against British vessels ; but the great com- 
mercial distress which the restriction occasioned, 
led to its suspension at the ensuing session of 
congress. In 1809, a more comprehensive act 
was passed by congress, which prohibited all in- 
tercourse with Great Britain, France, or their 
dependencies. 

These acts proving ineffectual, and all attempts 



1829.] GENERAL CONVENTION. 329 

at an amicable adjustment of the points at issue 
having been met by evasions or delays, the pa- 
tience of the people became exhausted, and on 
the 18th of June, 1812, congress formally de- 
clared war. 

In this declaration, as in the measures by 
which it was preceded, Virginia yielded a cordial 
support to the national executive ; and upon the 
commencement of hostilities, her patriotism con- 
tinued to display itself in the alacrity with which 
volunteers from all parts of the state enrolled 
themselves for the defence of the country. For 
a long time the war was confined principally to 
the frontiers and the ocean ; but when at length, 
in the summer of 1814, the enemy entered the 
Chesapeake, and attempted to ravage the borders 
of Virginia by various petty predatory incursions, 
the resistance offered by the local militia was 
worthy of the ancient reputation of the state. 

Hostilities terminated a few months later. On 
the 24th of December, 1814, a treaty of peace 
was signed at Ghent, which was ratified by the 
United States on the ITth of February, 1815. 

The subsequent history of Virginia is not 
marked by any event of historical importance 
until the year 1829, when a general convention 
was called for the purpose of revising the old 
state constitution. The number of eminent men 
who occupied seats in this convention, gave a 
peculiar interest and importance to the minutes 

28-:^ 



330 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1831. 

of its proceedings; for, prominent among its 
members were ex-presidents Monroe and Madison, 
and Chief Justice Marshall — all three of whom 
had taken part in the formation of the original 
constitution. 

It might have been supposed that the labours 
of a convention, composed almost wholly of the 
most distinguished men in Virginia, would have 
resulted in framing a constitution so well adapted 
to the wants of the people as to need no subse- 
quent revision for a long series of years. Unfor- 
tunately, the excess of intellectual force appears 
to have been fatal to the production of an instru- 
ment so desirable. Although it was ratified by 
the people, its many imperfections rendered it so 
constant a source of dissatisfaction, that a third 
convention was called in 1850, which, after a 
warm and protracted session, effected a thorough 
revision of the previous constitution, and allayed, 
to a considerable degree, the dissatisfaction of 
the people of Western Virginia by the adoption 
of a different and more equitable basis of repre- 
sentation. 

During the year 1831, a great excitement was 
created throughout the state by a servile insur- 
rection in the county of Southampton, which, 
originating in the fanaticism of one Nat Turner, 
led to the massacre of thirty-five persons; but 
the terror created by this sudden and sanguinary 



1845.] INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 331 

outbreak, was speedily allayed by the arrest and 
punishment of the principal offenders. 

In the Mexican war, which broke out in 1845, 
large numbers of volunteers from Virginia joined 
the armies of the Republic, and assisted in gain- 
ing that wonderful succession of victories which, 
from the banks of the Rio del Norte to the pass 
of Angostura, and from the ancient city of Vera 
Cruz to the walls of Mexico, were untarnished by 
a single defeat. 

Almost wholly engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, the people of Virginia have not, until within 
the last few years, become sufficiently aware of 
the necessity of adopting that important system 
of internal improvements, for which many of her 
less wealthy, but more energetic sister states, 
have rendered themselves so distinguished. The 
public mind, however, has at length become fully 
aroused from a condition of apathetic indiff'erence, 
to one of active inquiry. Works of great mag- 
nitude, based upon the excellent credit of the 
state, are already projected; while the noble 
water-power of the James River, for many years 
so unwisely neglected, is beginning to attract 
that attention from practical business men, which 
its admirable capacity for manufacturing purposes 
has so long deserved. 

The earliest settled of all the confederated 
states, Virginia, justly regarded as the birth-place 
of a great nation, has become endeared to the 



332 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1845. 

rest of the Union by the romantic incidents con- 
nected with her early career ; and above all, by 
the steadfast manner in which she has always 
defended her rights and privileges, as displayed 
in Bacon's rebellion, in her systematic endeavours 
to retrench the assumed prerogatives of her royal 
governors, and in the fearless ardour with which 
she placed herself, first among the foremost, in 
constant and unwavering opposition to British 
oppression. 







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